


The Cure

by okapifeathers (giratinas)



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Attempt at Humor, Blood, F/F, Violence, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-19
Updated: 2017-06-25
Packaged: 2018-11-01 19:33:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 24,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10928547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/giratinas/pseuds/okapifeathers
Summary: Upon accidentally contracting lycanthropy, Maki Nishikino receives a mysterious letter - an invitation to the (definitely non-existent) Magical Beings Anonymous club at Otonokizaka. She would prefer to solve the problem on her own, but there’s something magnetizing about that girl with the pigtails...





	1. The Change

**Author's Note:**

> this was supposed to be the fun adventures of maki the dumb dog featuring nico but instead i came up with a serious plot that will also make you sad for 10 years again.
> 
> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Life was good for first-year Maki Nishikino. She had a big house, a lot of money, good looks, and her parents knew when they should leave her alone. She was fully aware that these attributes most often contributed to producing the kind of individual that insisted they needed no friends - the tried and true (and clichéd) mark of your average high school loner - but Maki was different. She was above that.

Unfortunately, even cool lone wolves like her had to interact with other more irritating first-years from time to time, though she prided herself on remaining calm and polite during her first altercation with literally anyone in the general vicinity of her school.

“Mind watching where you’re going?” The short girl sneered at her, picking herself up from the dirt.

Maki had rounded the corner near the front gate of Otonokizaka High School and was met with a full-on collision with someone who definitely didn’t look like she belonged there. The girl was in a hurry and hadn’t been watching where she was going, so clearly it was no fault of Maki’s that she ate a mouthful of grass right in front of half the student body. 

Taller and likely more fit than most other first-years, Maki hadn’t budged and was still standing after getting her balance back. Her upbringing told her she should help the girl to her feet, but the tone said girl took was telling her otherwise. 

“Maybe you shouldn’t be running where you’re not supposed to be.” Maki said firmly, doing her best to sound as bothered as possible.

“And you won’t even help me up? Typical rebellious first-year.” Maki watched the girl glance at her blue ribbon for a moment before realizing that her assailant wasn’t wearing one herself.

“Do you need help getting back to the elementary school?” 

“Wow, never heard that one before. Look, I’d love to tell you more about how totally rude you are, but I don’t have time to deal with a  _ child _ at the moment.” The girl brushed off the sleeves of her pink cardigan and straightened out her skirt - which Maki finally noticed belonged to the same uniform ensemble she was wearing as well. Must be another first-year.

Maki made a point of giving the girl an obvious once-over. There was no way whoever this was could be justified in calling her a child, especially not with those pigtails. It wasn’t every day that Maki was offended by something before her first class had even started.

“I’m not a  _ child. _ And I have to get to class.” Maki moved to push past her minor disturbance, but a firm hand on her arm stopped her. She looked down, about to snap at the girl for daring to touch her for no reason, but something stopped her. Her eyes locked with crimson, and for a moment, she felt as though she were hypnotized.

The girl’s gaze was intense, a frown plastered across her face in a way that seemed unbecoming, as if Maki knew there was something wrong with the way she looked. They were stopped in the walkway for much too long before Maki felt the grip on her arm loosen.

“I forgot my ribbon at home.” The girl said, as if they hadn’t just spent a full five minutes being snarky to each other. She shuffled to the side and moved past Maki.

“I’ll see you around.”

And then the mystery girl was off at a light jog, down the steps and across the street.

Maki shook her head as if snapping out of some kind of stupor. There were a few students still lingering, who had probably been watching them. She wasn’t exactly embarrassed; she just felt a bit odd. It was as if that girl had been staring through her, like she was searching for something.

Maki decided on her way through the front doors that she didn’t have time to worry herself over bumping into such an arrogant stranger. She had more important things to do with her time.

 

\---

 

For Maki, school was little more than a place where she could learn, study, or hide herself away in the music room at the end of the day. She wasn’t particularly fond of socializing with anyone because it detracted from the time she could use to either compose or study; her grades were her first priority and she intended to remain at the top of the class, where she’d proudly seated herself at the very beginning of the school year. After grades came her recitals, for which she already received more awards than anyone else under the private tutelage of her instructor.

More accurately, she could continue to play music if her grades remained just so, and there was nothing she wanted to do more.

It wasn’t as if she felt lonely or anything, because she’d primarily grown up around rich old people and she was definitely too mature to admit that  _ maybe _ , on occasion, she might like to have someone her own age to talk to. Or maybe a little bit older, like some cool, intelligent third-years with which she could exchange notes and get ahead or something like that. She was much too mature for the likes of anyone she shared her class with now, especially that girl in the corner who never shut up about cats and talked with a funny speech pattern.

Just as she did every day, Maki spent her time in class paying attention and taking notes like any diligent student should be doing. She didn’t talk to anyone between subjects or during breaks, and she kept her business to herself whenever lunchtime came around. She’d survived nearly a solid month since the start of the school year without having anyone approach her or ask to sit with her while she ate, and she intended to carry on with her daily win streak unhindered.

After lunch, class carried on as usual and she tried her best not to say anything outside of reading aloud when she was asked to do so. As the afternoon came nearer to a close, she started to feel antsy about getting herself to the music room, as she usually did. Her parents had no problem with her staying late to practice on her own time, as the school music room was often more free of distractions than the one she had at home; no housekeepers fluttering by, no echo of the doors opening and closing as her parents moved about, and nobody asking if she was hungry every twenty minutes. It still felt like she was playing a much less dangerous game of Russian roulette, in which the other students were the bullets and sliding open the music room door was pulling the trigger. 

Would anyone beat her there today? Surely everyone had settled in by now and nobody else was willing to waste their precious after-school social time lurking around the piano.

The bell signaling the end of class rang and Maki rose from her seat as quickly as she could without tripping over it. Packing her bag, she caught a glimpse of the cat girl and her friend - Hana? Whatever - racing to the door, yelling something about a club. Maki had never even considered joining one even though it was highly encouraged, but she heard mutterings here and there about what her classmates did with their time.

Carefully avoiding them in the hallway, Maki turned and headed in the opposite direction and hopefully vanished into the crowd. 

She didn’t stop for anyone or anything, until she was safely seated at the piano bench behind a locked door and away from prying eyes. Freedom at last.

There was something very private in the way Maki played the piano, or at least something that made her feel like this time after school wasn’t meant to be shared. Her recitals were often invitation-only, and those were completely different from her personal sessions anyway. Her private lessons and semi-public performances were for learning how to play for others, but at Otonokizaka she was playing for herself and nobody else. Here she could play anything she wanted, feel anything she wanted, and even dabble a bit in composition, something she’d never been trained in but felt she excelled at. 

Hours passed as the ivory keys dipped beneath her fingers playing song after song, and before she knew it she had stayed well beyond her usual timeframe for post-class music-making. It probably had something to do with that annoying kid from before; she just needed more time than usual to unwind. It was getting dark already and she needed to get home to finish her homework anyway.

After packing her bag, she walked quickly through the empty halls of the school, much more comfortable now that she was the only one there. Despite the early setback of her mood in the morning, she had nothing to complain about otherwise. Another day at school had passed her by almost exactly the way she wanted it to, and there was no reason anything was going to change tomorrow, or the day after, or for the rest of the year. Maki was going to spend her valuable time alone with her music, because she already knew she didn’t need anything more.

 

\---

 

Night had fallen much faster than Maki had expected it to, and once she got off the train at her stop she decided to take a quick detour down a back street to get home faster. She didn’t really feel like missing out on dinner and she knew her parents would probably assume she was busy and eat without her, which was annoying at times, but she appreciated how they knew she wanted to keep to herself.

Though the main streetlights were on, it was quite dark down the back streets and there wasn’t another soul to be seen. She’d be lying if she were to say it didn’t make her feel a little nervous, but she’d come this way during the day before and she knew there was nothing to worry about. Nothing much happened around her neighborhood anyway, and plenty of people were probably still up and about in their homes.

The road dipped down further away from the light as it wove under raised train tracks, and Maki was vaguely aware that the stars were starting to reveal themselves as the last sliver of sunlight fell below the horizon. She really had stayed a bit too late this time. She came out from beneath the overpass and turned left, immediately walking into the middle of what looked like a cross between a fight and a drug deal. Maybe they were all just really drunk.

Maki stopped and inched backwards, vaguely aware that the rough-looking gang had all eyes on her in a flash. In the center of the crowd of a dozen or so were two huge men baring their teeth and circling each other, which seemed both weird and incredibly frightening to Maki. A second more and she noticed one of them was bleeding from the neck - a human-mouth-shaped bite mark the source of the dark red staining the man’s jacket. A few of the people surrounding them had switchblades out, and one of them was wearing what appeared to be hospital scrubs. All she knew was that she had to leave  _ right now. _

“A  _ witness _ ,” one of them hissed at Maki. His eyes were a strange reflective yellow, and Maki swore for a moment she saw slitted pupils. She blinked and before the stranger could finish his thought, she’d turned to run in the opposite direction, back towards the main road.

“After her!” she heard a gruff voice shout, but she didn’t even turn to look back. There were heavy feet pounding behind her and she’d never been more terrified in her life.

She made a sharp left turn and ducked into a tight alley, clutching her bag tightly to her side and stumbling a bit over the curb. Her breathing became more erratic and she could feel her heart pounding against her ribs, the sound deafening in her ears. She flinched as her foot clipped the side of a garbage bin and sent the contents flying across the alley. There was no time to stop though; she was pretty certain they were getting closer and she swore she could hear them breathing behind her. 

She made a left and then another sharp right, and she could suddenly see the end of the maze - an opening to the main road. With her eyes up and her mind preoccupied with the thought of potentially never making it home, she was completely unaware of the dog that slinked out from between two apartment buildings to cross directly in front of her path. Neither of them moved in time and she collided with the animal, tripping forward over it and slamming her face into the ground. She hissed as her knees scraped the cement and the dog let out a distressed yelp, tumbling after her and trying to leap away at the same time.

The howls and shouts of the gang behind her grew exponentially and Maki finally came to her senses in a moment of intense fear.

“Help!” She shouted, grabbing her bag and forcing herself to her feet. “Is anyone there? Help, please!”

She stumbled in the direction of the street again, but the dog had backed away from her down the alley, eyes wild and body shaking. Maki took another few quick steps towards it and it flattened against the wall, but she stumbled again and as she fell forward the dog lunged for her arm, clamping its jaws around her bare skin for a split second before darting around behind her and back the way she’d come.

Maki barely even processed the sharp pain she felt as she practically threw herself forward, scrambling to escape. Her bag swung around, still looped around her arm and bumping painfully into her side. With one last heave, she pulled herself upright and ran breathlessly the rest of the way until she emerged under the soft glow of a streetlight onto the road she usually walked down.

There were a few people around who turned to stare at her as she moved to press herself flatly against the building next to the alley, clutching at her shirt and breathing rapidly. She probably looked like a mess, with wide eyes and bleeding knees, and a small but ugly bite mark on her forearm. Had they not heard her calling for help? Did they hear the dog? The people following her?

Everyone eventually looked away and continued about their business as if some crazy teenager hadn’t just burst out of an alleyway looking like she’d been in a fight. The ruckus of the gang was gone, replaced by the quiet and calm sounds of the early night and the odd drone of a car. Maki spared a second to peer around the corner and glance back down the narrow gap she’d just emerged from, and saw little more than a couple of trash bins. They were gone.

She did her best to recompose herself, though her eyes and lips felt dry and her hair was peppered with a mix of dirt and gravel. Her uniform had a few spots of drying blood on it and her arm was leaking red, but she had nothing to cover it with. She definitely had medical training for instances like this, but it was as if her brain had emptied itself of all conscious thought and now all she could do was grasp at the wound with her hand and speed walk the rest of the way to her house. She could feel her teeth grind together in her mouth as the pain spread uncomfortably up her arm and the skin around the bite throbbed beneath her fingers.

The farther she went, the louder everything became around her. It was as if every tiny sound was echoing back into her ears at maximum volume, and it made her head pound as a sharp point of pain focused itself right behind her eyes. She felt dizzy and her vision blurred as her house came into sight. The possibility of rabies crossed her mind as she entered the code for the gate and practically ran inside and up the stairs of the porch.

She let go of her arm and clumsily opened her bag to dig for her keys as her vision clouded even further. Blood dripped down her arm and over her keychain as she struggled to jam her key into the lock and breathing became increasingly difficult. There was a click as the door finally swung open, and Maki made it just inside the threshold before collapsing in a heap on the welcome mat. The last thing she remembered before blacking out was her mother screaming for her father to call the hospital.

 

\---

 

When Maki woke up, everything hurt. Her eyes and nose felt like they were burning, and even just flexing her fingers was painful. She tried to look around, but everything was sort of a blinding white, though she was coherent enough to guess that she was likely in the Nishikino hospital.

Breathing was still painful, and she had to awkwardly close one eye at a time to adjust her vision until she could finally see exactly what was going on. She was in a hospital gown, lying on a bed with a blanket pulled up to her waist. Even turning her head a little to look at her arm brought back the sensation of vertigo, but she managed to crane her neck enough to spot the tightly wrapped bandages covering the part of her arm where the bite definitely was. She felt oddly calm for someone who likely came close to dying, or getting beat up by some nameless thugs at the very least.

Her breathing was still a bit faster than usual, but it didn’t feel too different than normal. Maki flinched as she sniffed, a strong pang of nausea flooding her senses as the overwhelming scent of antiseptic blocked out anything else she’d been thinking about. It was disgusting and it gave her a headache like she’d never had before, even though there was no apparent reason for it. She had spent much of her childhood wandering around the hospital, so this was nothing new.

She groaned and brought her good arm up, clutching her head. Her eyes began to water and she swore she could hear the echo of footsteps down the hallway even though the door was closed. 

_ What’s wrong with me? _

She blinked the tears in her eyes away and struggled to make sense of the digital clock on the table across from the hospital bed. There was a stinging sensation near her wrist and she suddenly became hyper-aware of an IV drip poking into her skin. She didn’t even think before ripping it out. The monitor beside her let out a few beeps, and she knew someone would be there soon to discover she was awake.

She closed her eyes and tried to will the headache away.

“Maki-chan? Are you awake?”

The sound of her mother’s voice slammed into her at full force, as if she were screaming into her ear. The door creaking open, the sound of her footsteps, why was everything so loud?

“Ugh,” Maki ground out, trying to open her eyes again.

“How do you feel?”

There was a sudden rush of coolness inside her, and all at once, her extreme discomfort settled gently and all but vanished. There was no echoing coming from the hallway, her mother sounded normal, and the overpowering odor of the hospital dwindled back to mildly bothersome cleanliness. Maki opened her eyes and glanced around, finding her mother standing before her dressed in her normal clothes with her white coat thrown on overtop. 

“I… I’m fine. I just woke up.”

Her mother nodded. “Good. You’ve been out almost a full day, but it doesn’t seem like anything is wrong besides the bite on your arm. What happened?”

“Tripped over a dog in the alley.” Maki said plainly. No point in mentioning what had happened before that. She just wanted to go home, and then never  _ ever _ take a detour back to her house again.

Her mother brought out a clipboard and tapped her pen against it. “You’re sure that’s it? You fainted right in the doorway.”

“That’s it.” 

“Alright. We drew some blood for testing but everything is coming back clean. Normal vitals, no fever, body temperature is where it should be. Your heart rate was abnormal when you came in but it’s settled since then. From what we can tell, you’re completely fine. Just need to keep an eye on that bite for a few weeks while it heals.”

Maki nodded dumbly and noticed with surprise that she could read the tiny insignificant disclaimer text on the bottom of the “Make Sure to Wash Your Hands” chart all the way on the other side of the room. She focused on reading that text instead of listening to her mother go on about changing her bandage, even though the fine print was meaningless and there was no reason for her to be so distracted by it.

She was brought back into the conversation by her mother tapping on her arm.

“Hey, you zoned out there for a second. Are you sure you feel fine?”

Maki blinked and looked down at her hands in her lap, flexing them. No pain. Headache gone. Everything plaguing her had dissipated just as quickly as it had flooded her senses.

“I’m good.” She said confidently. 

“Right. I’ll go check you out and then we’ll head home. Your clothes are on the chair over there.” Said her mother, pointing at the seat near the door.

Maki moved to get up as her mother walked out the door, closing it behind her. 

While there wasn’t an explanation for how she felt when she first woke up, Maki wasn’t particularly worried about it. Her mother would have definitely noticed if anything was seriously wrong with her, and she was feeling much better only minutes later anyway. As she leaned over to step into her skirt, she noticed with surprise that the scrapes on her knees no longer stung like she expected them to when she bent them.

Putting the skirt aside for a moment, she sat down and lifted up her hospital gown to get a better look. Instead of finding bandages, Maki was greeted with the sight of exactly nothing. There was nothing on her knees. No rough skin, no blood, and nothing to cover up the marks she should have had. Someone would have noticed if her knees had magically healed overnight, right?

Maki shook her head. She might have been remembering the encounter in the alley wrong. Perhaps she’d caught herself before hitting the ground. 

She sighed as she pulled her uniform on, switching from injured-in-the-hospital-mode to behind-on-homework-mode. She would have a day and half to catch up on now, not to mention an ugly scar on her perfect attendance record. 

A little confused but not entirely bothered, Maki Nishikino walked swiftly out of one life and into the next.


	2. The Witch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sorry i like to put you in the anxiety pit maki
> 
> you make it too easy

The next day, Maki returned to school as if nothing had happened. She had been a little paranoid on the walk there, but for the most part she’d shaken off what lingering fear she had. Her arm was still wrapped up so she opted to wear her uniform jacket today, even though it was a little too warm to be wearing it. Better than having anyone ask her questions about it.

She was hoping that today would be much less eventful, but it seemed even hope could not trump her astronomically bad luck. Or maybe the bad luck belonged to the pigtailed girl, because yet again they were encountering each other in a situation where she was on the ground, and Maki was just standing there looking down at her. This time, they were inside the gates just in front of the entrance to the school, and the cat girl and her friend were huddled together a few feet behind the fallen dark-haired girl.

Across from them stood some smug students Maki didn’t recognize, and a crowd was dispersing from whatever had just occurred. If Maki were to guess, she might say she just avoided walking into a petty fight.

“Rin-chan, a-are you okay?” The girl on the ground stuttered, pushing herself to her feet. Her nose was bleeding and her knees looked dry and cracked. Blood mixed with dirt and Maki thought of the alley again.

“I-I’m fine, nya! Kayo-chin…”

“I’m okay too…” the girl with the glasses replied. 

Maki recognized them, of course; they shared classes with her and most often talked amongst each other and to nobody else. Rin and… Kayo? It must have been short for something.

Rin moved towards the short girl and grabbed at her hands. 

“You didn’t have to do that! Are you okay? Rin was so scared!”

“Of course I had to, they were picking on you and Hanayo! I’m not the president of -” the girl cut herself off as she caught sight of Maki, who by now was the only one still watching them. 

“Hey, it’s you again. What are you looking at?”

Maki blinked and shook her head. “Nothing. Did you piss someone else off this time?”

The girl scowled at her, wiping at her nose. “I wish it’d been you. You don’t look like you could throw much of a punch.”

“I could report you to the principal you know.” Maki muttered just loud enough for the girls to hear her.

“I stand up for my friends, get punched in the stomach, and now the crazy redhead wants to report me. Good day so far, don’t you think?” The girl turned and gave a lopsided smile to her two friends. They didn’t say anything, but traded worried looks with each other.

It seemed oddly fitting that the most annoying people Maki could recognize at school were all friends with each other. Hanayo seemed normal at least, though she wasn’t the most vocal person and she always looked worried. Maki didn’t say much herself though, not unless the situation called for it. Like right now.

“You could have hurt someone.” Maki said sternly before realizing who she’d said it to.

“Yeah I’m real dangerous, didn’t you see me wailing on those girls? It definitely wasn’t the other way around.”

Maki pursed her lips and decided she had better things to be doing than getting involved in fights that had nothing to do with her. She didn’t know what happened and it didn’t matter. She’d reached her quota in talking to people she didn’t know for the day already anyway.

“I have a class to get to.” Maki said as she started walking towards the doors. “And so do you.” She gestured at Rin and Hanayo. All they could do was nod at her as she continued on her way.

When she got to the door, she couldn’t help but turn back around to look at them one more time. She was just curious; there was no other reason. She hadn’t realized the two girls that were in her class had immediately followed after her, and they passed by her through the door as she turned her head. She was left staring at the roughed-up girl - a third-year, Maki noted as she finally realized the colour of the ribbon around her neck. She could hardly believe it.

Once again, Maki found herself unable to look away as the girl walked towards her, still rubbing at her nose and brushing dirt off her uniform. It should have become intensely awkward as they locked eyes for the second time, but Maki couldn’t find it in herself to do anything about it. Instead they just watched each other as the other girl neared the door. 

The girl came to stop in front of Maki, looking up at her now, with narrowed eyes and a hand clutching at her stomach.

Maki felt odd, like she was being inspected or judged in some strange way. But still she said nothing. It didn’t become awkward until the girl’s red eyes zeroed in suspiciously on Maki’s injured arm. Maki almost moved to cover it before she remembered it was already covered by her jacket, and there was no way this weirdo could possibly know anything was there. Perhaps she had a stain on her sleeve, but when she looked down she didn’t see anything unusual.

She had only looked down for a split second, and when her eyes came back up, she saw that the girl was looking at her again, but this time without the attitude.

“You’re strange.” The girl said to her, and before Maki could deny it she vanished into the school at a pace Maki couldn’t be bothered to match.

Maki? Strange? No, it was they who were the strange ones. There wasn’t a single thing about Maki that was strange, and there was no reason to describe her as such. Maki concluded that in the future she would make a conscious effort to avoid the first people she’d ever actually spoken to at school, for the sake of her own sanity.

 

\---

 

All through her first class, Maki struggled to think of anything else besides how frustrated the pigtailed girl made her. She couldn’t really pinpoint what it was that bothered her exactly, and that was what irked her the most. As she refilled her mechanical pencil, the cat girl walked past her desk and her skirt brushed against Maki’s hand. Her head snapped in the direction the girl was walking, eyes following after her as Maki was suddenly overcome by a stimulation overload.

All at once her nose was bombarded with an ugly mix of powerful perfumes and wet dog, or some kind of disgusting animal-related scent. She felt an intense ache in her sinuses as she tried her best not to inhale the strong scent of strawberries and flowers, or whatever other sprays were still lingering on her classmates. Her hands flew to cover her nose as her eyes began to water and she dug her toes into the floor beneath her desk. 

Nobody around her seemed to notice the horrible stench, and if they did they somehow weren’t reacting to it at all.

She looked to the front of the classroom and swore she felt her ears twitch when Rin put a worksheet on their teacher’s desk. She could  _ hear _ the paper being placed gently on the wooden surface as if she were lying right next to it. The chatter of the other students around her increased in volume until she had to struggle between plugging her ears and holding her nose shut, and her skin began to feel itchy under her clothes.

Her face twisted and she gave in, resting her whole face in her palms and wishing she could scream to let out the bubble of discomfort that was building inside her. Everything hurt all at once, and she didn’t know what to do. 

From somewhere within, her rational side reached out.

_ Deep breaths, Maki. It’s just a headache. You can deal. _

She opened her mouth and gasped, shakily drawing air in and pushing it back out. Her fingernails dug into her forehead, but she ignored it and tried to focus on her breathing as best she could.

A few moments later - or maybe hours, Maki wasn’t sure - she finally found it in herself to look up.

Everyone was watching her.

“Would you like someone to escort you to the nurse’s office?” Her teacher offered with genuine concern.

Maki’s eyelids fluttered rapidly for a moment as she tried to look at her palms. Her mouth was dry and the faint scent of strawberry perfume still drifted about her. 

“N-no. No. I’m fine, just a headache. It’s gone now.” Maki hoped she sounded convincing, and that everyone would look away from her immediately.

“If you’re sure,” her teacher said, “just speak up if you need to leave. You don’t look very well.”

Maki didn’t care to think what she looked like; she just didn’t want people looking at her. The best way to pull their attention away from her was to ignore them, and so she picked up her pencil and got back to work on her notes. And yet, she could still feel their eyes on her, judging her and poking through her carefully constructed social shields. 

She tried to keep writing, she really did, but when she looked up to see that even Rin was watching her with big confused eyes, she couldn’t stop herself from closing her hand into a fist and snapping her pencil clean in half.

She flinched as the plastic dug into her skin and the pounding in her head returned at full force. With nothing left to lose, she did her best to stand and gather her things without causing even more of scene.

“I’ll take myself to the nurse.” Maki said on her way out the door. She felt like she wanted to throw up, and she wasn’t sure if it was because of her headache or the crushing weight of the embarrassment she felt.

 

\---

 

As she lay on the small bed alone in the nurse’s office, Maki did her best to consider what the source of her head pains might be. She’d had regular aches in the past and even a migraine or two, but nothing felt quite as similar to being punched in the face as her current ailment did. Well, she’d never actually been punched in the face before, but she imagined it felt like what had happened earlier in class.

It didn’t really make sense that it came and went so fast, and that after the feeling was over she was exactly as fine as she was when she woke up every morning. She at least expected the nausea to hang around, but even that had vanished before she’d even made it to the nurse, and yet still she’d asked for something to settle her stomach because she was worried it might come back again.

Instead of throwing up, nothing had happened and Maki had lain down feeling completely normal, outside of being at a loss for why she felt the way she did. Maybe it had something to do with that pesky bite. 

Maki sat up and looked around, spying a roll of medical gauze sitting on the counter. Changing her bandage would give her peace of mind, so she set about unwrapping the one she’d had on since the previous night. If her mother hadn’t said she was as fit and healthy as she had been the day before her encounter with the dog, Maki might have considered that perhaps she’d contracted something serious. How long did it take for symptoms of rabies to set in again? The thought had crossed her mind already, but she was so sure she was fine outside of the spontaneous headache.

When she reached the end of her bandage, she paused for a moment as her gaze passed over smooth, unblemished skin.

Her jaw began to drop slowly as she processed that there was absolutely nothing left on her forearm to even suggest she’d been bitten by anything to begin with. No scars, no scabbing, and no sign of irritation. She gently rested her other hand on the spot where  _ something _ should have been. There was nothing.

Her head shot up and she looked around the room, at her jacket on the chair in the corner and then at the long mirror next to the counter. She felt a rush of anxiety as she raced for the mirror, holding her arm out in front of herself and observing it from every angle, as if the reflection would reveal something hidden in her skin. Still there was nothing, and Maki had no answer.

Was she dreaming? No, there was no way. She’d never been more awake in her entire life. But how could this be possible?

_It_ _wasn’t_ _possible._

Maki turned around. She was still alone in the room. She barely even heard the ring of the school bell signaling the start of lunch. She looked back down at her arm, only to find that it was shaking. She grabbed it with her hand again, letting it go only for a moment as she slung her jacket over her good arm before checking herself out. She needed to tell her parents, to show them that her arm had miraculously healed itself in less than two days. She wasn’t crazy; this was really happening.

On her way out the office door, she bumped into someone’s shoulder and nearly lost her footing.

“Oof, careful there! What are we racing for?”

Maki steadied her breathing and looked at the person in front of her. She was a third-year, with long hair tied back into two low pigtails and an almost mischievous look in her eyes.

“Uh, sorry.” Maki muttered. “I’m just in a hurry.”

“Oh, I see. We’re on break now though, no need to rush. My my, Nicocchi was right about you. Lovely red hair, gorgeous purple eyes, and a feisty personality.”

Maki could only stare at her in confusion. “What? What are you talking about?”

The girl giggled and gave Maki a close-eyed grin. “How rude of me not to introduce myself. You can call me Nozomi.”

Nozomi held her hand out towards Maki, as if she were expecting a handshake. Maki looked down at her still shaking arm, grasped in her other hand. Nozomi followed her line of sight.

“Oh sorry,” she withdrew her right hand and held out her left, “best to avoid the bad arm, right? It doesn’t look so bad anymore though. That nurse of ours really can work wonders, can’t she?”

“How did you…?”

Nozomi took Maki’s left hand in her own and shook it. Maki just let it happen, as she tried to understand exactly what was going on.

“Nicocchi sure knows how to pick ‘em.” Nozomi sighed happily.

Maki shook her head. “Who?”

“Oh, you’ve already met! She’s the one with the grumpy face and the bloody nose.”

Maki straightened out and yanked her hand back, subconsciously grabbing her arm again. “The really short third-year? She was talking about me?”

Nozomi just continued to smile at her, drawing her hands together behind her back. “No, but she’s been thinking about you. What a coincidence that I’d run into one of Nicocchi’s new friends today…”

Maki stiffened and ground her teeth together. “I-I don’t have time for this.” 

She turned and walked away, one-hundred-percent weirded out and wondering if she really was going crazy after all.

“I’ll tell Nicocchi you said hi!” Nozomi called after her. 

Maki ignored her, making a beeline for her classroom where she had left her bag. Now she just wanted to eat her lunch alone in peace, and then after that maybe consider tapping out of school early for the day. She tried her best not to think about how completely horrible her day was going (again) and pushed past the students milling about in the hallway until she reached the room, and at last her bag. 

She reached down to pull out her bento and when she looked back up, Rin was staring at her  _ again _ . With her curious yellow eyes and her strange feline-like expression… it was kind of creepy.

“What are you looking at?” Maki couldn’t stop herself from blurting out. “Mind your own business.”

Rin visibly flinched and turned away to chat with Hanayo, but she was still giving Maki the side-eye. 

Maki sighed and moved herself and all of her things to the far corner of the room by the window, well away from anyone and any conversation she didn’t want to be a part of. Which was all of them. She’d done enough conversing for the entire week and beyond.

As she unwrapped her food and took her chopsticks out of the lid, she made yet another mistake - looking up at the girls who were sitting on the desks near the front of the room, all of whom were watching her and whispering to each other. Maki moved her head to look away, but did a double-take when she recognized the trio as the same girls who presumably beat up Nico outside. She was still certain Nico had done something to deserve it, though. No civil human being had a reason to pick a fight with someone who was most definitely always on the losing end, especially if said loser was outnumbered to begin with. Like everything that had happened that day, there had to be a reason for it.

And yet, Maki couldn’t help but frown as she overheard her name in their conversation, followed by snide laughter and more whispers. She didn’t want to make a big deal about her earlier episode, but it seemed they did, and behind her back no less. Or right in front of her, where they were making no attempt to hide their derogatory comments. 

_ Weird _ , she heard them mumble quietly amongst themselves.  _ Nerd. Daddy’s girl. Stuck up. Teacher’s pet.  _

Maki brought her chopsticks closer to her mouth as her mood continued to sour. She bit down on what should have been a less than soft carrot, but as she envisioned them blabbing away about her, she felt a bolt of rage and bit clean through the vegetable along with her own tongue.

She flinched and dropped her utensils, the tang of copper flooding her mouth. She wondered if the day could possibly get any worse as she once again abandoned her things and raced out the door in the direction of the washrooms.

Luckily nobody else was in there, and so she had no qualms about spitting a gross mix of blood and saliva into the sink. She moved closer to the mirror, leaning over the counter and sticking her tongue out to inspect the damage. It looked messy and it stung, but what stood out more to her were her teeth. Had they always been that sharp? Surely not; they just looked that way in the light and she’d just bit through her tongue, so her mind must be playing tricks on her again. Like with the bite. Totally the same deal as the bite. Definitely.

And then she noticed her own eyes, which were currently an unnatural glowing and vibrant shade of purple surrounding her now very small pupils. She paused for a moment, hands falling uselessly to her sides. Sick. She was definitely sick, or she needed a nap. Nothing made sense anymore, and she somehow wasn’t surprised. She just wanted a rest.

She blinked once and her irises returned to their normal, less glowing shade of purple. What a mess.

With shaky hands, she took her phone out and dialed her mother’s number to let her know she was coming home early.

 

\---

 

After lying in her bed for a good long while reflecting on what she’d seen and heard that day, Maki decided she wanted to play the piano. It was the only thing she could think of that could possibly distract her from her thoughts, and she had nothing better to do anyway, having finished all of her homework in her previous attempts at distracting herself.

She held her bare arm up in front of herself. Not a mark to be seen. No bruising. Absolutely nothing.

She got up and put on a light jacket, carefully hiding her forearm. She still wasn’t sure exactly how to approach that little detail when it came to her parents, and she didn’t feel like spending another night conked out in a hospital bed while they took more blood samples or whatever. When nothing was bothering her, she felt fine, and right now she was feeling mostly okay - save for still being utterly confused.

She wandered through the halls until she came to the music room. Sitting down on the bench, she took a deep breath and held it for a moment. She’d been doing that a lot today, but it did help her calm down and she really just wanted to forget everything for a moment and  _ play _ .

And so she did, for about five minutes, until she was hit with a sudden wave of nausea and had to lie down as best she could on the bench without falling off. She wanted to cry. Could she just have something for herself today? Just this one thing?

Apparently not, because she found herself rushing off to her personal washroom just in time to lean over and throw up everything she’d eaten or drank that day, which included little more than coffee and her late breakfast. She slouched on the floor, feeling more drained and exhausted than she ever had before. Something was wrong and she didn’t know what. One moment she felt totally fine, and the next she felt like death incarnate, doomed to suffer at the hands of her annoying classmates and her own mysterious healing capabilities. As soon as a part of her recovered, something else worsened with no rhyme or reason.

Maki decided that she only had one thing left to try, and that was sleeping it off. Sleep had always been her friend when it came to fighting off the common cold or anything else that made her feel like dirt, and it was the only thing she hadn’t tried yet that day. Come morning, she would decide what to do next if whatever illness she had persisted. With any luck it would disappear and she could go back to her normal schedule where she didn’t have to walk out in the middle of class or run into people like Nozomi; or potentially worse, that Nico girl again. She wasn’t exactly up for a fistfight anytime soon.

After washing out her mouth and cleaning herself up, Maki made her way back to her room and changed into something more comfortable. Settling into her king-sized bed, she tried to play some of her favourite classical compositions in her head in an effort to get to sleep faster. It was only seven in the evening, and yet Maki suddenly felt tired enough to sleep for days. It didn’t take much for her eyes to droop, and just like that she was dead to the world.

When morning came, Maki rose from bed feeling refreshed and decidedly more cheerful than she’d been when she was hunched over the toilet only hours ago. Her internal clock had woken her up at six on the dot, which was surprising given how early she’d passed out. She thought about getting something to eat, but felt oddly full already. Very strange, considering she had thrown up the contents of her stomach the previous evening.

She wandered down the stairs and past the living room until she stepped into the vast kitchen which was normally occupied by the family chefs at this hour as they made breakfast. This morning, it was occupied by police officers and her very concerned-looking parents, who stood just over by the sliding glass doors that led to the back yard.

“Uh…?”

“Oh,” her mother turned to look at her, “you’re up. Did you happen to hear anything last night?”

Maki looked nervously at the police, who were meandering about both inside and out. 

“What kind of anything? I went to bed at seven and just woke up.”

“Ah.”

Her mother turned back to look into the yard. Maki stepped forward cautiously, having no idea what to expect. When she finally stood before the glass door, Maki all but gasped.

Holes. Gigantic, messy holes. They were scattered across the normally pristine yard from end to end, one of them close enough to the in-ground pool that the decorative tile surrounding it had been cracked and lifted from the foundation. The water was a gross murky brown.

“What the…”

Against her better judgement, Maki quickly slid open the door and walked out onto the back porch in her bare feet. Nobody stopped her as she made her way down the steps to the ruined lawn towards the biggest looking hole, right in the center and surrounded by police tape.

She looked down and her stomach flipped over. Half buried in the dirt at the bottom of the huge hole was the twisted and mostly bare skeleton of a small cow. Maki looked up at the high fence that surrounded the property, finally noticing the dried blood caked to the decorative wood in the far corner.

Maki wasn’t stupid. She knew how to put two and two together. 

Forcing a flat expression on her face, she turned away from the hole and stalked back towards her house, gliding up the steps to the porch and looking directly at the wall as she walked past her parents. She walked through the kitchen, back up the stairs, and down the hall to her room. Shutting and locking the door behind her, Maki picked a pillow from her bed, held it to her face, and screamed into it as loud as she could.

She had no idea what to do next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i mentioned in my other work that i would consider giving patreon a try. so here it is: https://www.patreon.com/nidofeathers
> 
> i also have a ko-fi for one-time or at-your-discretion donations: Ko-fi.com/mrfeather
> 
> feel free to ignore, carry on!


	3. The Siren

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hi friends! late update since i was away this past weekend. speaking of being away, both myself and my editor will be at anime expo this year! if you happen to see me then come say hi if you'd like. on day 0 i'm sure i'll be the only dia oshi at the aqours live so... if you see someone with a dia itabag and five dia nesoberis on it, that's me. provided everything goes smoothly, you'll also see me as summer uniform nico, incognico (with a yohane), and SIF idolized flower/bouquet nico. i'm quite short so... i'll probably be the shortest nico. and most height accurate, i'm 154 cm! it was meant to be.
> 
> anyway paradiso will update within 24 hours-ish as well.

After the initial shock of realizing what she’d done had passed, Maki’s mind went blank. 

 She stood naked in front of her floor-to-ceiling mirror for what felt like hours, examining herself and searching for anything abnormal; her fingernails were still rounded and well cared for, there wasn’t anything hiding beneath her hair, her teeth were white and perfectly aligned... there wasn’t a speck out of place this morning, besides the fact that she didn’t feel like eating anymore.

 Eventually the reality of the cow’s remains came around, and Maki rushed back to her washroom to throw up again, eyes closed and unwilling to look at what she actually coughed up. She still didn’t want to believe what she was telling herself even though it made sense in a horrific, this-can’t-be-happening way, because, well… lycanthropy is _fictional_. 

 It wasn’t possible, and yet here she was.

 Somehow though, her brain was still trying to convince her that there had to be another answer. There must be another kind of sickness, maybe something new that nobody had ever heard of yet. Something that enhanced her senses at random, made her eyes reflect the light and sharpened her teeth. The holes and the cow - those things had nothing to do with her. There was no way. 

 Logic and reality fought each other viciously in her head all morning, even as she wrapped her perfectly fine arm in a bandage to hide that it had already healed from her parents. She still had time to think, and she needed to decide what she actually believed before she could ask anyone for help. How completely insane would she sound if she waltzed down the stairs and confessed to her parents that maybe, just _maybe,_ that dog that bit her was totally a werewolf and therefore Maki was now a werewolf because that’s how it works in the stories, right?

 Werewolves in Japan sounded ridiculous enough on its own. They were historically European and the modern idea of the werewolf was primarily western. She only knew that because she’d looked it up online as soon as she finished screaming into her pillow, and she’d felt like some kind of fool as she clicked on the first article she found. She hadn’t even been able to read it, slamming her laptop closed and calling herself crazy.

 She resolved to carry on with her day as usual, acting as though nothing was different and avoiding as many people as possible. She just needed time to reflect and come up with the real reason for her illness. If she thought of it like that, then she figured she could at least appear sane.

 “How’s your arm?” Her mother asked as she was on her way out the door to school.

 “It’s fine,” Maki said, and she slammed the door shut. Very inconspicuous.

 She walked to school staring dead ahead, like some kind of zombie, and this time when she got to the front of the building there was nobody fighting outside and little else to do besides go to class.

 She did notice throughout most of the morning that Rin was staring at her again, looking like a curious animal more than anything else. Maki tactfully ignored her whilst praying to nobody in particular that she could get through the day without suffering some kind of episode. Escorting herself to the nurse’s office again was not on her to-do list. Instead, she much preferred the idea of going about her day until she could take refuge in the music room by herself and do some serious thinking. Or some serious research. It really depended on whether or not she could admit to herself that what she suspected might be true.

 Come lunch, Rin’s staring had nearly driven Maki up the wall, and so she gathered her things and opted to eat lunch outside in some shady corner, far from prying eyes. She could use some fresh air anyway, and the weather was still ideal, if not a little too warm.

 She’d never gone outside for lunch before, and there were more students out than she expected. They were sitting in groups and sharing food or just chatting, so Maki made her way around the back of the school towards the field. There were less people around, but she still wandered into the far corner so she could sit down and lean against the fence undisturbed.

 Out there under the clear blue sky, sitting in the freshly trimmed grass and the warmth of the sun, Maki’s troubles didn’t seem so bad. She knew it was just her mind playing tricks on her again, but she needed a real break from the classroom environment. The closed space made her fidget a little, which she never used to do. Paying attention to her teacher had been more frustrating than usual.

 She’d taken not two bites of her food before she spied someone off in the distance, walking towards her from the school. Maki didn’t consider the possibility that whoever it was would come anywhere near her until the stranger waved. Maki looked around and behind herself, expecting to see someone else waving back. She was the only one.

 As the girl neared her, Maki slowly realized exactly who it was. Yellow-blonde hair, blue eyes (She was still so far away; how could Maki even tell? Well, she knew, but still) and a neatly tied third-year ribbon. It was Eli, the student council president. Maki had only seen her once before when she’d walked past the student council room, and she’d definitely never spoken to her.

 “Hey!” Eli called to her, now only a few feet away. “Mind if I sit with you?”

 Maki blinked in surprise. The rumors she had heard mostly consisted of the negative traits Eli supposedly possessed - that she was cold, focused, and could recite the entire student code of conduct to anyone who requested it. She sounded much too friendly for the cold part to be true.

 “I mind.” Maki said a little too harshly.

 Eli stopped in front of her and sat down anyway, crossing her legs and putting her own lunch down in her lap.

 “Are you deaf?” Maki asked her, semi seriously.

 Eli shook her head. “No, you just looked like you could use some company. It’s a nice day, isn’t it?”

 “Do you just walk around looking for people sitting alone in corners or something?”

 Eli’s smile faltered and she awkwardly scratched at the back of her head. “No. I just… happened to be outside for lunch today.”

 Maki narrowed her eyes. “You think I believe you?”

 “Uhh, hehe… I don’t know what you mean?” Eli shifted uneasily. 

 Maki leaned forward, slamming her bento into the grass. She breathed in, willing the bubble inside her to settle, knowing what was coming if she let it get too big. She didn’t need to deal with a headache right now. She needed to try to talk herself out of the strange conversation, or deal with it until she could muster the will to get up and leave. Something told her Eli would follow her anyway.

 “I’m… sorry.” Maki muttered, teeth grinding together. “The last few days have just been frustrating.”

 “I’m sorry to hear that… oh, you know what might cheer you up?” Eli reached into her bag and pulled out an open pack of chocolates, holding it out towards Maki. “Would you like one?”

 Maki felt like she was hallucinating. The student council president obviously came looking for her, and now she was offering her chocolate? Pity chocolate? What was her game?

 Maki shrugged and took a piece anyway, because she had to make at least some kind of effort to respect her senior. She unwrapped it and popped it in her mouth.

 “So,” Eli started again, “Nice day, huh? Good weather…”

 Maki didn’t really know what to say to that, so she just kept chewing her treat.

 “What… year are you in?” Eli asked dumbly.

 Maki swallowed and looked down at the ribbon around her neck, one perfectly shaped eyebrow raised as high as it would go. 

 Eli’s eyes darted from side to side. “Right, um. Yeah.”

 Maki frowned. That was enough.

 “Would you mind leaving me alone?”

 Eli bit her lip, fingers tight around her chopsticks. “Won’t you be... lonely if I go?”

 “Yes?” Maki said incredulously. “That would be the point?”

 Eli turned her head to look behind her, back towards the school. She looked back at Maki, clearly at a loss. Maki decided to go in for the kill.

 “If you won’t leave then I will.” She moved to stand but Eli’s arms shot out, hands grabbing at Maki’s.

 “Wait, I… I mean, I’m terrible at this. Just let me explain!”

 Maki stopped moving and gave Eli a hard look. She was willing to listen, but only because she wanted at least some kind of explanation before storming off. 

 “One of my friends was worried about you, so she wanted me to see if you were alright.”

 “Worried? I don’t know anyone who should be worried about me.”

 Eli sighed. “It was Nozomi, you bumped into her once. She just wanted me to check if your arm- I mean-”

 “My arm is fine.” Maki snapped. “Why would there be anything wrong with it?”

 How could they have known? Maki swore to herself that she hadn’t mentioned it, and that nobody had seen it. At this point though, she wasn’t really sure if what she was remembering was real or not. 

 “Never mind, forget I said anything.” Eli rushed out.

 Maki wasn’t done though. “Why wouldn’t she just come ask me herself? Not that there’s anything to ask about.”

 Eli looked at Maki nervously. “Well, she mentioned your temper and figured you might be more receptive to the head of the student council than to her. You know, authority. So here I am.”

 Maki looked at her for a long moment, and Eli gave her an awkward half-smile. 

 “I don’t believe you. You’re all crazy. Just leave me alone!”

 Maki ripped herself away from Eli, slung her bag over her shoulder, and all but ran back towards the school. She’d learned the names of way too many people over the last few days, and she never wanted to talk to any of them again. She had enough to deal with on her plate as it was; she had no time to care about Nozomi or Eli being cryptic and making less sense than she herself did. 

 The cherry on top was the churning she felt in her gut that she knew by now signaled that she needed to throw something up. At this point she’d rather die and be done with it, but that was a little dramatic even for her current mood. Her light jog turned into an all-out run, and she tried her best to remain oblivious to the turning heads as she sprinted inside through the back door of the school. Luckily the halls weren’t very busy in the middle of the lunch break, so she had a clear path to the nearest washroom.

 She slammed the door open and spent a mere second checking to see if anyone else was around - nobody was - before throwing herself into a stall and letting everything out into the porcelain bowl. 

 She cringed at herself as she finished, gasping for breath and resting her head on the cold rim of the toilet. The tile was cool on her knees.

 Maki groaned and tried to stand up on shaky legs, desperate to wash the taste of vomit out of her mouth. This wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. How long was she meant to deal with the ache in the back of her skull and the twist in her stomach? She had to tell someone, and yet she felt like she couldn’t. The chances of anyone believing her were slim to none, and she suspected she was more likely to be carted off to a mental hospital than anywhere else, were she to voice her thoughts on why she felt the way she did.

 She wanted to scream again.

 The water from the sink was cold and it stung, causing her headache to flare up even more. She still had to clean the foul taste out, though. She felt disgusting.

 She spat the water out and was promptly overcome by a sudden spark of rage. She slammed her fist on the counter before gripping the ledge tightly and inspecting her face in the mirror. Her eyes had gone funny again, pupils small and surrounded by a shocking purple.

 Her breathing accelerated again, until she could hear herself gasping in and out. She felt the pricking of her teeth against her tongue, the all too familiar itching beneath her uniform. In the mirror, her reflection stared back at her, eyes wild and tears welling in her eyes.

 She heard a scraping sound below, like nails on a chalkboard, and when she looked down for the source she discovered it was coming from herself - her own hardened nails were digging into the counter as she gripped it, scratching jagged lines into the surface.

 She let go, drawing her hands in and wrapping them around her middle.

 “It’s not _fair_!” She screamed. And yet she couldn’t look away from herself, couldn’t think about anything else.

 She felt the bubble again. She needed to do _something_ , anything to let the growing pain out, and to stop the changes from consuming her any further. Ripping her gaze away from the mirror, she searched the washroom for anything she could use without knowing what she was looking for. She didn’t even know what her body wanted her to do, but she wanted to let go.

 The pain behind her eyes increased and she knew she was out of time. Turning around, Maki let out a cross between and scream and a snarl. She stepped forward, pulled her right arm back, and then swung it directly at a closed stall door. 

 There was a crack and a loud echoing _thunk_ as the door flew clean off the hinges and collided with the toilet inside. The light wooden door had splintered on contact, and there was a fist-sized hole in it, along with specks of blood that had originated from Maki’s now scraped up hand.

 Maki stepped back, astonished at what she had done. The feeling of discomfort and the itching under her clothes disappeared instantaneously. 

 She hurriedly calculated her escape. She would wash her hand and  pick the slivers of wood out of it, then leave as fast as possible without letting anyone see her. She would call her mother and someone could come pick her up, and then she could go home and never show her face at school again. Nobody could prove that she had done it anyway, but extreme precaution was absolutely necessary at this point.

 It was nothing short of a miracle that the washroom had been empty when she walked in, and had remained so throughout her entire ordeal. If anyone caught her, she was doomed.

 Maki turned away from the door towards the sink, but did a double take when she caught a flash of black near her planned exit.

 Nico was standing there looking for all the world like she hadn’t just watched someone punch a door in. Hands on her hips, she just looked back and forth between Maki and the ruined stall. Maki wished for death.

 Instead of running away screaming like Maki expected her to, Nico gave a low whistle and casually stepped forward.

 “Wow, I take back what I said before. You got a mean right hook.”

 Maki, dumbfounded, watched as Nico peered into the open stall as if she were sizing up the damage.

 “At least you didn’t crack the toilet. That would’ve been way worse.”

 Nico stepped back out of the stall and eyed the door warily. 

 Maki’s brain had checked out already, and she’d run out of things to do. What was she supposed to say? Why was Nico totally fine with this? Nico just looked her up and down before rolling her eyes.

 “You’re really not gonna clean that up? You’re dripping.” Nico pointed at Maki’s bloodied hand.

 Maki lifted it up a little, looking at it with an expressionless face. She could feel her mouth hanging open a little, but she wasn’t cognitive enough to close it at the moment. 

 “Are you dumb?” Nico asked her, raising an eyebrow.

 Maki had nothing to say to that. She was inclined to agree.

 Nico sighed and walked towards Maki, taking her by the wrist and leading her to the sink. She doesn’t say anything about the definitely noticeable claw marks on the edge of the counter. Maybe Nico was a werewolf as well.

 Werewolf.

 There was nothing else Maki could be.

 Nico turned on the tap and pulled a handkerchief out of her cardigan pocket. It was pink and cutesy with little white rabbits all over it, a stark contrast to Maki’s blood-covered knuckles.

 “It’s gonna sting.” Nico warned seconds before sticking Maki’s hand under the warm water. Maki bit back a hiss as the water washed over her fingers, dyeing the white of the sink a soft pink colour.

 Nico dabbed at the cuts with her handkerchief and Maki felt as though she could do nothing but watch. Once most of the blood was washed away down the drain, Nico pulled Maki’s hand away from the water and dipped her free hand into her other pocket. She pulled out a pair of tweezers, clicking them together.

 “Try not to be a baby about this, alright?” Maki thought Nico was trying to be sharp with her, but her voice was gentle, as if she actually cared about what she was doing. 

 It took Nico about five minutes to clear Maki’s hand of splinters, and another minute holding her hand under the running water. The whole while, Maki’s eyes glanced up and down towards the door, expecting someone else to walk in at any second and ruin her life forever. Perhaps, Maki thought, it was already ruined. Nothing could be worse than this.

 “Alright, all done. Just let it breathe and blah blah blah, you’ll be all healed up before the end of the day.”

 Maki just nodded, looking down at Nico as if she had the answers to all her questions. Maki wouldn’t be surprised anymore if she did.

 Nico dropped her hand and Maki continued to stand there.

 “Anyone home?” Nico jested, knocking on the side of her own head for emphasis.

 Home.

 “I want to go home,” Maki choked out. 

 Nico looked back towards the stall, pigtails swishing. “Then go. Don’t worry about that. You owe me, though.”

 Maki’s legs were shaking and she spared a glance at her hand, which was already healing itself. The cuts were barely more than faint scars now, and she was sure Nico was right and they’d be completely gone before she went to bed. She headed for the door, doing her absolute best to compose herself. She wanted to ask Nico what she should do; why she wasn’t surprised or scared; why _anything,_ but she couldn’t do it. She picked up her bag, tossed to the side when she ran in, and reached for the door.

 “Don’t forget to read the letter, alright? I’ll see you after school tomorrow.”

 Maki had no idea what Nico was talking about.

 The door slowly shut behind her and the bell rang, signaling the end of the lunch break. Maki paid it no mind, continuing to walk down the hall, past the stairs, and beyond her classroom. She walked all the way to the other side of the school and out the front doors. Other students rushed past her in the opposite direction, but time felt slow and all she could see were vague, people-shaped blurs on either side of her. She walked across the road and down the steps, pulling out her phone and texting her driver directly. 

She sat down on the bottom step, alone, and contemplated what had just occurred. There was no room left for doubt, and no excuse left that she could make for herself. She would have to lock her bedroom door tonight and consider apologizing to her parents about the holes in the yard. Actually, that sounded like a stupid idea (the apology, not locking the door), so she would do something less incriminating instead and browse the internet to learn as much as she could about her affliction first. Would anyone notice if she skipped class for a week? 

 Her driver arrived shortly after that thought, and Maki went home with a heavy heart.

 

\---

 

Once home, Maki did as she always did and said nothing to her parents, retreating to her room and offering no reason as to why she was home from school so early. She had her homework from her morning classes with her at least, so she could work on that for a while. She would have to get someone to pick up the rest of her work from the afternoon she was missing, which was bothersome but also the best plan she had at the moment. It was also the only plan she had.

 How did one even approach something like this? This, as in being a fictional monster, which Maki supposed wasn’t actually fictional anymore, but it made her feel better to use that word anyway. There was no waking from this nightmare; Maki would have to find her own way out. Somehow.

Maki dumped her bag out on her bed, papers and pencils scattering across the sheets. She gathered up the handouts from the morning, along with her notes and a pastel purple envelope she didn’t remember seeing before. She dropped everything back onto her bed save for said envelope, and flipped it over in her hands. Written across the front in extravagant calligraphy was her own name, first and last.

 Nobody had given her anything like this; someone must have slipped it into her bag. She considered ripping it in half, completely done with the insanity that that threatened to push her over the edge during the last few days. She was curious though, and had nothing to lose, so she opened it anyway.

  _Dear Maki Nishikino,_

  _We at the Magical Beings Anonymous Club at Otonokizaka would like to extend a formal invitation to you, and only you. We are a closed and very confidential support group, and so we ask that you refrain from telling anyone that you have been invited to participate in the aforementioned club, lest we be forced to take drastic measures to ensure absolute secrecy._

  _You can find us approximately twenty minutes after the final bell sounds in the room between Principal Minami’s office and the last third-year classroom on the left._

  _Attendance is not mandatory and you may show up at your own discretion. Please be aware that this invitation will expire in no less than forty-eight hours from the time you finish reading this, after which your memory will be automatically wiped and you will remember nothing about what you’ve read._

  _Have a nice day! We hope to see you soon._

  _-U_

 Maki’s eye twitched and she carefully considered ripping the letter up anyway. This had to be some kind of prank. Who was “U”? It didn’t matter. Maki threw the letter on her desk and stared at herself in her mirror again.

 She hadn’t been planning to go to school the next day, but at this point, would it really kill her to just go and have a look? And on the off chance that this stupid-sounding club was actually real, maybe someone there could tell her how to fix her predicament for good. If Nico really was a werewolf like Maki now suspected, then she would know what to do, or she could direct her to someone who did.

 Maki laughed internally as she imagined the tiny girl transforming into a Pomeranian. Dogs weren’t really wolves, but it was funny to consider the idea. That animal she’d tripped over in the alley wasn’t a dog either, as she now knew, but rather a very small wolf. Maybe it had been Nico who bit her, and that was why she looked so intently at Maki’s arm the other day. It made sense, but at the same time, it didn’t.

 If by some crazy chance it really was Nico who had turned her, then it wasn’t she who owed Nico anything, like she’d said in the washroom, but the other way around.

 Tomorrow, Maki would take the stupid letter and go to the stupid club after class. There wasn’t really a better option anyway.

 If what Maki suspected was true, then Nico owed her a cure, and she was going to get it one way or another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks to those of you who are already supporting me on patreon! have a look here: https://www.patreon.com/nidofeathers
> 
> Alternatively, my ko-fi: Ko-fi.com/mrfeather
> 
> thanks!


	4. The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> maki is a good dog

Maki eyed the envelope in her hand suspiciously, turning it over and over under her desk while her mind wandered off.

 She hadn’t really felt like going to school, and the dull throbbing just below her eyes almost convinced her to skip and toss the letter in her bin. She hadn’t slept well at all, for fear of… well, she didn’t really want to think about it. She’d locked her door and pushed her desk in front of it with the hopes of barricading herself inside, though she doubted it would really stop her from sleep-digging (and eating?) again.

 In the early morning she’d woken up to the sounds of machinery and landscapers, busy repairing the ugly mess of a yard while her parents deliberated over buying security cameras. She really hoped they wouldn’t go through with it until she could figure out what to do about the whole wolf thing, but trying to talk them out of it might make them just as suspicious of her as she was of what she was about to do.

 The chime of the bell signaled the end of the day, and Maki felt oddly unprepared. She didn’t really know what to expect, though she doubted the club she’d been invited to even existed in the first place. Wouldn’t someone find out if there was, like, a werewolf club hanging out after school every day? What if someone just walked in on them?

 It just seemed too ridiculous and convenient to be real, but then again she could presumably change into a wild animal in her sleep and run around killing innocent farm animals, so who really knew anymore?

 Maki gathered her things and stood up, slinging her bag over her shoulder. She had some time to kill before she was supposed to show up, so she opted to wander the halls and pretend she had something more important to do. As the minutes ticked by, Maki only became more nervous about following the letter’s instructions. 

 Who would be there? Nico, for sure, and the mysterious person who had written the letter. She had no idea what to expect otherwise.

 She pulled out her phone to check the time. She still had five minutes before she was supposed to be there, but most students had dispersed and she figured it wouldn’t hurt to show up a little early. Turning around, Maki walked down the hall until she passed the Principal’s office. The third-year classroom was just beyond, and like the letter specified, a small unassuming door was wedged mid-way between them.

There was nothing different about it, but Maki wasn’t sure she’d ever seen it before. It wasn’t a classroom, and there weren’t any signs on the door that might clue anyone in about what was supposed to be inside.

 Maki gripped the envelope in her hand, reaching in to pull the letter out again. She read it once more and determined that she was, in fact, in the right place, only slightly ahead of time. She glanced up and noticed a tiny paper placard in the corner of the window on the door. She leaned in to read it.

  _School Idol Research Club_

 “What the…” Maki whispered to herself. She looked down the hallway on either side of her to make sure nobody was around. Seeing nobody, she gripped the door handle and began sliding the door open.

 The wider the gap became, the more her heart pounded in her chest. She swallowed and took a deep breath, inching the door aside further and further until…

 An empty room.

 There was nobody there; just a table, some chairs, a few computers, and wall-to-wall school idol merchandise. Shelves and shelves of books and DVDs, magazines and framed autographs, posters… whoever owned all that stuff must be some kind of lunatic.

 A thin line of sunlight filtered in from between the closed curtains and Maki winced as it trailed across her eyes. Of course there was nobody there. 

 Maki slammed the door shut with white knuckles and turned to leave, only to spot none other than Nico speed walking down the hall towards her. Nico had mentioned the letter to her, so she had to have something to do with it even though she didn’t sign it. There were many, many bones Maki had to pick with Nico, so she did her best to menacingly stare the girl down as she approached.

 “Of all the days to be late…” Nico muttered.

 She walked straight up to Maki as if she belonged there, like she hadn’t just sent Maki on some stupid wild goose chase for a room that didn’t even exist. Nico looked up at Maki and opened her mouth to say something, but Maki silenced her with an accusatory finger.

 “ _You_.” She threatened, eyes narrowed and her other hand balled into a fist.

 “Nico?” Nico blinked, confusion evident on her face.

 “ _You,”_ Maki reaffirms, “is this your idea of a joke? You think this is funny?”

 Nico’s gaze travelled to the letter, now crumpled in Maki’s fist. She made the same confused face again and blinked her wide eyes once more.

 “What? What are you talking about?”

 “This,” Maki said angrily as she shoved the letter in Nico’s face. “What’s your game, Nico? Are you trying to make me look stupid?”

 Nico reached for the letter but Maki jerked it away from her. She turned back to the door and slammed it open hard enough that Nico jumped beside her.

 “There’s nothing here! It’s just some other club room. I don’t get you. I don’t get this.”

 Maki shut the door and then quickly opened it again, as if she expected the room to change before her very eyes. Even though she’d doubted the letter was truthful to begin with, Maki couldn’t help but feel betrayed. Deep down, she had genuinely hoped that she might find someone to help her there; someone who could change her back so her life could return to normal. But instead, she’d been given the runaround by Nico, confused by the girl’s knowledge yet totally lost in understanding why she had that knowledge to begin with.

 “Calm down, genius. Did you read the back of the letter?”

 “Huh?” Maki’s anger dissipated for a moment as she looked down at the wrinkled letter.

 She held it up again, flipping it over to look at the other side. On the back, in the same delicate handwriting as the rest of the letter, was another note.

  _To gain entry, knock once, then twice in quick succession, and then twice in quick succession once more. You’re also welcome to bring snacks._

 Maki’s mouth hung open and Nico swept in to yank the letter from her hand. How was she supposed to know? Why would that be written on the back?!

 “That’s all my stuff in there, by the way. This is my club.”

 “But… w-what?”

 “A girl can have hobbies besides werewolf repair, can’t she? I can’t believe you didn’t read the back.”

 Maki shook her head. “I don’t understand. Why does the knock matter? Who… what are you?”

 Nico raised an eyebrow and gave her an incredulous look. “I’m Nico. You seem really high strung right now, is something wrong?”

 “So this magical support group thing is real?” Maki asked, hardly believing the words coming out of her own mouth.

 “Of course.” Nico said. “Why would we invite you to something that doesn’t exist? Not everyone’s out to get you.”

 Maki blinked and turned to look at the door, unable to comprehend what the letter was getting at. “But the room… and who’s ‘we’?”

 “Okay,” Nico started, “this is like magical being one-oh-one here, but do you really think we’d just have some room in the school any old busybody could walk into when we’ve got witches and were-animals sitting around?”

 “U-um, I guess not.” Nico did have a point, and it _was_ something Maki had thought about earlier. Wait, witches?

 “It would be really fucking dumb, wouldn’t it?” Nico moved to shove Maki aside, and the first-year, barely able to keep up with what she was being told, complied. She wanted to go home. 

 Nico walked up to the closed door and knocked out the pattern, then stood back, hands on her hips. Maki watched her, fully expecting nothing to happen.

 “Hey, it’s your president! Anyone wanna let me in? Umi?”

 The name Umi rang a bell, and Maki thought back to the signature on the letter. It was probably safe to make the connection between the two.

 There was a click, and the door slid open from the inside. In the entrance stood a girl a bit shorter than Maki, with long blue hair and a calm but unsettling expression on her face.

 “You’re late for your own meeting.” Umi pointed out.

 Nico waved her off. “Yeah yeah, whatever. I got held up for a bit, that’s all.”

 “Detention again?”

 “Obviously not, if I’m here now.” Nico muttered. “But almost. Nico is too charming for detention.”

 Umi stepped aside and waved them in. “If that’s what you want to call it.”

 Nico scowled and walked through the door, letting Maki catch a glimpse of what was inside. 

 Beyond the door was a room similar to the club room that was _supposed_ to be there, but instead of endless idol merchandise, there were dozens and dozens of old, fragile-looking books, diagrams of supernatural creatures plastered across the walls, and a table in the center of the room decorated with a lovely pink lace tablecloth, a pentagram embroidered in red across the top.

 Maki immediately recognized both Eli and Nozomi, sitting next to each other at the table. Across from them sat a girl with a bright orange side ponytail, and the daughter of Principal Minami, whom Maki had never met but had seen in the halls. The resemblance to her mother was uncanny.

 “Are you coming?” Umi asked her from the doorway.

 Maki shook herself out of her stupor and stepped inside, not fully processing why the room suddenly looked so different.

 Nico, now at the head of the table, gave her a questioning look. 

 “What, never seen a room charm before? You’re like a little kid.”

 Of _course_ Maki had never seen one before. She felt like she was going insane. In spite of that, she walked slowly towards the table as Umi shut the door, eyeing the rows of vials filled with mysterious colourful liquids occupying a shelf that should have been packed with DVDs. Moments ago, she’d opened that same door to a different room. It didn’t make any sense.

 Everyone watched her as she pulled out a chair and sat down, completely speechless and no less lost than she’d been when she was standing outside the door. Nico remained standing as Umi took a seat next to Maki and across from Nozomi.

 Maki tried her best to look at anything that wasn’t another person, teeth clenched together and hands clasping and unclasping in her lap. Her efforts failed her as she caught Nozomi’s eye, and the older girl sent her a frightening wink. Maki couldn’t help but shiver.

 Nico tapped the edge of the table with her hand. “Alright, everyone, first order of - wait, where are Hanayo and Rin?”

 More pieces of the puzzle came together as Maki recalled the fight she’d only just avoided, her two classmates hiding behind a much smaller Nico.

 “Rin has track every Tuesday and Thursday now.” Umi informed her. “Hanayo accompanies her to provide support, but we can expect them in around an hour and a half if we’re still here.”

 Nico rolled her eyes. “Of all the meetings to miss. I guess it can’t be helped.”

 “We can proceed as per usual, I’ll catch them up on anything they miss.”

 “Thank you, Umi.” Nico nods at her. “Anyway, first order of business. We have a new member - everyone say hello to Maki.”

 Maki’s head whipped around as she realized everyone was waving at her. A blush settled on her heated skin and she felt ready to burst. This was definitely not what she signed up for.

 “I’m not here to join your stupid club.” Maki snapped, though her voice cracked as she said it.

 Nico looked taken aback - offended, even - and Nozomi just smiled at her. Umi’s expression remained unchanged, and the girl with the side ponytail - who Maki now realized was asleep - slumped into Umi’s shoulder.

 “What?!” Nico shouted. “Then why are you here? Nozomi,” Nico turned to look at her on the other side of the table, “you told me she wanted to join! Umi wrote the fancy letter and everything.”

 Nozomi shrugged. “I did what I thought was right. Maki-chan was thinking so hard…”

 “Don’t call me that.” Maki said sharply.

 “Nozomiiiiii,” Nico whined, “you’re not allowed to do that! Like, really not allowed!”

 “I couldn’t help it! She was thinking right at me!” Nozomi held up her hands in defense.

 “What do you mean?” Maki was still confused, even more so than before.

 “Nozomi!” Nico yelled again, slamming her hands on the table and leaning forward.

 Nozomi just continued to grin happily. “She had a lot going on up in that brain of hers, quite a bit of turmoil. I could tell she had a big problem on her hands, but the vision was fuzzy so I’m not quite sure what it is. You’re here to help people like Maki-chan, are you not?”

 Nico immediately leaned back and made an effort to straighten her skirt. “Of course. Nico-nii is here to help everyone. But still, you’re not supposed to-”

 “Can someone please just tell me what’s going on?” Maki begged, sounding a little more desperate than she’d like. She was already regretting coming at all, but she had to stay. She had to find out what was up with Nico, and she needed to know how to cure herself. Someone here would surely know – that, or they were all collectively nuts. Maki was very close to assuming the latter.

Nico considered her for a moment, then took her seat. “Alright, alright. I guess I’ll take it from the top, starting with the biggest pain in my ass.”

 Nico paused and glared at Nozomi.

 “That’s Nozomi, but I guess you already met her. If you couldn’t figure it out by now, she’s telepathic and likes to stick her nose where it doesn’t belong.”

 Maki took a moment to process those words, unsure if she should believe them or not. She really had no reason to argue though. It was logical in a strange way, because Nozomi definitely knew things about her that she hadn’t ever voiced to anyone else.

 “You can read minds?” Maki asked, hyper aware of what she was currently thinking about.

 “A side effect of being a witch. An accidental specialty, you could say.” Nozomi explains. 

 “A witch? You make like… potions and stuff?” Maki asked dumbly. She sounded...ridiculous. Crazy even.

 Nozomi laughed. “You could say that.”

 “Nozomi wastes her time doing stupid things like swapping our voices and turning my chair into frogs.” Nico grumbles. “You ever sat on a pile of frogs before? Not fun.”

 Maki didn’t know how to respond to that, so she just laughed awkwardly and rested her hands in her lap. _Very smooth, Nishikino._

  _Just sit tight until you can call Nico out._

 “Anyway,” Nico went on, “she’s also a clairvoyant, but she’s not very good at it.”

 “But Nicocchi, I told you that you would meet a tall, beautiful -”

 “She sucks at it, almost never right. What a shame.”

 Nozomi giggled and rested her head in her hand. 

 “Moving on,” Nico pointed at Eli, “you know Eli already too. I had to hear about that encounter from Rin.”

 “I thought Nozomi was doing what you asked her to do!” Eli exclaimed, gripping the edge of the table.

 “I told her to keep out of it. Do you believe everything she says?”

 Eli glanced at Nozomi, smiling softly. “Well, she had good intentions.”

 Maki looked back and forth between Nico and Eli, trying to make the connection between their awkward lunch hour and the club, as well as the letter.

 “Eli is a siren, but she’s useless at convincing anyone to do anything as you’ve probably noticed, never mind drowning someone in the ocean.”

 “That’s unethical; sirens don’t practice that sort of thing anymore.” Umi expanded, though Maki wasn’t sure if that was supposed to comfort her or not.

 Eli shook her head. “I told you before, Nico-chan, it only works if I’m singing.”

 “Thank the good lord Satan that you didn’t burst into song in the middle of the soccer field. How totally awful would that be?”

 “But I’m good at-”

 “Rhetorical question, moving on.” Nico waved her hand. 

 Eli folded her arms and huffed. Nozomi patted her on the shoulder and Maki continued to sit there and absorb information. It became harder to not just stand up and walk out as each second passed her by.

 “Long story short, Nozomi told her to try and convince you to come to the club on your own, but from what I heard you barely got past introductions. Plus she gave you chocolate, which is extra terrible.” Nico glared at Eli, and then turned to the other side of the table. Maki made sure to avoid looking into her eyes again, because it was weird enough the first two times.

“Eli also tried her best to make sure this club never happened, and we had to go through a lot of unnecessary bullshit before she gave up and revealed that all she really needed were true friends and impromptu dance numbers.” Nico summarized.

 “Now wait a minute, I-”

 Nico continued anyway, leaving Eli in the dust and Maki with a lot of questions.

 “This is Kotori,” Nico held her hand out towards the younger Minami, “she’s a tengu.”

 “Hello! It’s nice to meet you.” Kotori smiled happily in Maki’s direction.

 “A _tengu?_ ” Maki said a bit louder than she intended. It wasn’t what she expected to hear, but then again she had nothing to go on anyway. “D-don’t tengu have wings? I thought they were bird people. Terrifying bird people.”

 Kotori giggled and nodded, but offered no explanation otherwise.

 Nico pressed her lips together, face blank. “It’s the twenty-first century, not the Heian period. Hiding extra limbs is standard procedure. Did your parents skip your history of magic lessons or something?”

 Maki was about to mention that yes, her parents had in fact skipped that particular bit of information, but decided to hold her breath until Nico was done. Even though she was a mix of annoyed and somewhat terrified, part of her was also interested. They hadn’t really proven any of what Nico was saying to be true, but Maki didn’t feel like anyone was lying. It was too strange to _not_ be real.

 Kotori reached down her shirt and pulled out a necklace with a little golden bird on the end of the chain. 

 “It’s enchanted. Makes us appear completely human.”

 “Us?” Maki asked, a split second before realizing who Kotori must be talking about.

 Nico smirks. “Our principal is a tengu too. She’s the reason we’re even here right now.”

 “She provided us with a safe place to get together.” Umi adds. “It’s a rare opportunity for people like us.”

 Maki wanted to ask more about that particular point, but decided against it again. She was so close to getting all the answers she needed - she only needed to tolerate a little more lunacy...

 “Honoka” - Nico pointed to the sleeping girl - “is also a witch. She doesn’t really specialize in anything unless you consider instant baking capabilities to be some kind of miracle. But… this club was also her idea, so we’re all pretty thankful she’s around.”

 “Is she going to wake up any time soon?” Maki couldn’t help but ask.

 “Sleeping spell,” Kotori informed her. “She was up late last night finishing a paper last minute. I don’t think she really slept at all.”

 “She ignored all the study guides I wrote for her. If she passes I’ll be very surprised.” Umi muttered, a hint of annoyance in her voice.

 “You’ve just met Umi, but I think you guys will get along great.” Nico went on, leaning back in her chair. “Umi is a werewolf, and her family is descended from some long noble line blah blah blah, you know the deal. Big dog. Big status. Big nerd.”

 Maki did a double-take, not at all expecting the calm and collected girl sitting beside her to be a were- _anything_ , much less a wolf. She was so… normal. Composed. Maybe the kind of person Maki might have talked to on her own accord, if they weren’t sitting in a hidden magical club room listening to Nico describe what sounded like utter nonsense.

 “Bigger than you.” Umi commented, voice unchanged.

 Everyone else laughed quietly and Nico grumbled something about her ungrateful friends. Okay, maybe Maki could get along with Umi. But who was she kidding? She wasn’t there to make friends.

 “Our two missing members are in your class so you probably know what they look like already,” Nico continued, “Hanayo is a nymph. I forget what kind, but she’s bound to a rice plant that Rin keeps on her windowsill. Pretty shy, but also totally into school idols like yours truly. Rin is a werecat, but I bet her accent gave it away.”

 “Accent? And what do you mean, like a werewolf but a tiger or something?” Maki asked, genuinely curious. She’d never heard of werecats before - not that she’d gone looking.

 “Y’know, the ‘nya’ thing. And no, she’s just a housecat.”

 “A were… housecat?”

 “You’ve never met one before? They’re super annoying.”

“Like Nico.” Umi sniped, with a good-humoured smile.

 Maki almost wanted to clap for her.

 Nico ignored the stellar insult. “And that’s everyone. All caught up to speed.”

 Maki really wasn’t, but Nozomi voiced the concern on her behalf. Whether or not it was because Nozomi was probing her mind… just another thing Maki didn’t want to think about.

 “What about you, Nicocchi? The most interesting member of the club.”

 Nico looked around nervously, twiddling her fingers on the table. She looked like she wanted to avoid the topic, and Maki was almost positive she could guess why.

 This was the moment Maki had been waiting for; the whole reason she’d gone against her better judgement and shown up at the door to begin with. If Nico was visibly nervous, it meant she was hiding something, and Maki would be the one to reveal it. Almost everyone in the room had messed with her in some capacity, and now it was time for Maki to get them back. Or Nico, at least.

 “You can’t tell anyone,” Nico whispered quickly. “No other werewolves, no wizards, nobody magical, nobody non-magical. Not a soul.”

 Her moment was upon her. Maki was ready to beat her to the punch, the accusation on the tip of her tongue.

 “I’m… I’m a…-”

 “A werewolf.” Maki interjected. “It was you, wasn’t it?”

 Nico looked stunned. “What?”

 “You looked at my arm. I know it was you.”

 “In the washroom? When you punched a door in and I cleaned everything up for you?”

 Maki bit her tongue. It was true; without Nico there to help her, she didn’t know what she would have done. But still.

 “Before school. When you bumped into me.” Maki pushed.

 Nico looked anxious. Maki had her there.

 “I didn’t-”

 “Nicocchi is human.” Nozomi stepped in. 

 Maki nearly stopped breathing. Human? But how? Blood rushed to her face and she felt her initial embarrassment swiftly return.

 Nico wasn’t really paying attention though, instead looking down into her lap. “You can’t tell anyone. You have to promise.”

 “Magical Beings Anonymous is a very private club.” Umi stepped in smoothly. “We have to ask that you respect the club president’s wishes, otherwise we’ll have to bar you from any further meetings. You have to understand that nobody, not even other humans, can know about this room or anyone in it. It’s a risk we aren’t willing to take.”

 Maki leaned back in her seat, suddenly feeling completely terrible. She’d been so ready to pin Nico, when in reality all the girl had done was help her out. It was in desperation though that Maki had jumped to her conclusion, and she was out of options.

 “Why… why can’t anyone know?”

 “Did you skip your politics in magic lessons too or something?” Nico asked, voice lower than usual. “Humans knowing about magic is bad. Humans hosting a club about magic is bad. There are bad people out there, people kinda like them,” she waved her hand around the room, “who think the world would be better off without us. It’s like there are two different worlds out there, and half of one of them wants to put the inferior race in the dirt for good.”

 “That’s the short of it. Why don’t you know these kinds of things already? Did you grow up in a pureblood community?” Umi asked her, but Maki wasn’t really sure what she meant by that.

 “Wait wait wait,” Nico held up her hand and looked at Maki, caught between a sort of determined look and a hint of curiosity. “What exactly was it that made you think I’m a werewolf?”

 Maki frowned. “It’s going to sound dumb.”

 “Look where you’re sitting, everything I’ve said to you probably sounds dumb. Try me.” Nico pressed.

 “Well… you looked at my arm. Those times we ran into each other, both times. The first time was before I knew what really happened. Or at least before I suspected…” Maki licked her lips, and Nico watched her intently. Everyone else was leaning in too, looking much more serious than they had when they’d been introduced.

 “To me, it looked like you knew what happened. And you didn’t even flinch when you saw me go nuts in the washroom. I thought… I thought you were the one who bit me.”

 Umi launched to her feet, hands slamming the table. “Bit you?!”

 Honoka slid to the ground, still completely gone. Maki was surprised at the outburst, unsure of how to react. She noticed that everyone shared similar expressions of astonishment, including Nozomi, who Maki assumed should have been able to read her mind. Then again, there was evidently a spoken rule that was intended to prevent that.

 Nico whipped around to face Nozomi. “You couldn’t tell?”

 Nozomi shook her head. “I can’t detect the real truth if the mind thinks that what it knows is real.”

 Nico turned back towards Maki and blinked slowly. “So you didn’t even know?”

 “A dog, or a wolf, I don’t know, something bit me a few days ago and now I think I’m a werewolf.”

 “Well no shit, of course you are. We just didn’t know that you didn’t know! This isn’t supposed to happen!” Nico moaned, clutching the sides of her head.

 “Isn’t that what werewolves do?” Maki asked genuinely. “Bite other people to change them?”

 Umi sat down quietly and folded her hands calmly on the table, a complete turnaround from her sudden outcry.

 “A western horror film trope. We’re not _savages_. We have laws, a government. Turning humans is very, very illegal.”

 “ _Very_ illegal! This is why being Nico is so dangerous!” Nico shouted. “Are you sure someone bit you?”

 “Of course I’m sure. I got up in the middle of the night and dug holes all over my back yard!” Maki yelled back, voice laced with frustration. “I… I ate a whole cow!”

 “Were you conscious for any of that?” Kotori asked, looking worried.

 “No. I woke up and had to piece everything together myself. The bite mark healed way too quickly, I’ve had to hide it since my parents are both doctors.” Maki explained quickly, trying to keep her cool.

 “They’re both doctors?!” Nico stood again, pulling at her pigtails now. “This literally can’t get any worse.”

 “Wait, why that bad, I don’t get-” Maki tried to get a word in, but Nico’s moans drowned her out.

 “This makes sense.” Umi said. “The behavior... can you control your transformations?”

 Maki was about to tell her she didn’t know when Nico stepped in again.

 “The washroom… of course… you’re like…”

 “A child. You’re a puppy in a young adult’s body.” Umi tapped her chin. “Easily distracted, ignorant of what you’re even doing, out of control. This makes sense… but any werewolf I know around here wouldn’t dare bite someone. Do you remember what the dog looked like?”

 Maki was still struggling to keep up with the conversation, but she did her best to answer.

 “It was small, below my knees. I tripped over it in an alleyway.”

 Nozomi leaned in with her elbow on the table. “You thought it was Nicocchi because it was small?”

 “No. Maybe.”

 Nico was still busy having an episode and muttering to herself, so Umi took the reins. 

 “There’s no tactful way to say this, but you probably kicked a child.”

 Maki cringed and felt a tug in her gut. It made sense and she hated it.

 Umi went on. “You probably didn’t hurt them; you know we’re a bit tougher than normal humans. Children are usually taught very early on that they aren’t to bite anyone under any circumstances, but you might have scared them… self-defense is automatic for us.”

 Us. Umi and herself. Maki didn’t know what to make of it, like everything else she’d just heard.

 “This is quite the situation, isn’t it?” Kotori commented. “I don’t think we’ve ever encountered someone who _used_ to be human. This sort of thing isn’t very common.”

 Maki looked towards Nico, who had turned her chair around to face the monitors. She appeared to be deep in thought, and Maki almost felt bad now that she sort of understood what the deal was. She was on a mission though, and she fully intended to follow through.

 Umi looked in Nico’s direction, sympathy in her eyes. “This could get her in a lot of trouble. The dubious legality of your situation isn’t something to be taken lightly, and now that everything’s been revealed to you…”

“Do you think Nico will ask Maki to leave?” Eli whispered across the table to Umi.

 “Trust me, I want to get out of here, but I need help.” Maki urged. “I don’t have anywhere else to go.”

 “I know you need help.” Nico turned around. “Umi can help you. But I don’t want to ask her to do that when we don’t even know if it’s safe. If someone finds out about you…”

 “I’ve gotten by just fine in the last few days, haven’t I?” Maki said, before realizing that no, she actually hadn’t. The last few days had been a waking nightmare.

 “No, you haven’t. What’s to stop an inexperienced, out-of-her-mind werewolf from blowing up in the middle of class? You have no idea what you’re doing!”

 “That’s why I need -”

 “Go sit outside.” Nico cut her off. “Wait beside the door. I have to talk with everyone.”

 The others went silent as Maki stood quickly from her seat. She’d barely said two words about why she needed help to begin with, and they didn’t even know what she wanted yet. Her frustration followed her out into the hall and she slammed the door behind her without looking back. 

 Tossing her bag to the floor, Maki sat down against the wall and pulled her knees up to her chest. She didn’t want to know what they were talking about - didn’t want to hear it. Though there had been the occasional emotion-fueled reaction to what they’d just been discussing, Maki hadn’t felt the sensation that was now creeping up on her yet. 

 She’d spoken the truth when she said she wanted to leave, but she was also afraid that they would give her the cold shoulder now. The whole magic thing was so complicated, and the last thing she expected was some kind of political barrier preventing her from getting the help she so desperately wanted.

 With nothing else to do but wait, Maki wallowed in her misery. Once again, things were looking hopeless. The minutes ticked by until the door opened, and both Eli and Nozomi walked out. They looked down at her and smiled, but Nozomi looked sad.

 “I have student council business.” Eli said to her. “But maybe we’ll see you later.”

 Maki didn’t wave back, only watching them walk down the hall.

 A while later, Kotori emerged with a stumbling, half-awake Honoka on her heels.

 “Yukihoooo, make me teaaa…” 

 “You’re not at home right now, Honoka-chan.” Kotori chided her, guiding her down the hall. 

 “See you, Maki-chan.”

 Maki didn’t wave to them either.

 After nearly an hour, Umi stepped through the door. She looked down at Maki, posture perfect and uniform perfectly in place. Maki tried to imagine what she might look like transformed, but couldn’t do it.

 “It was nice to meet you.”

 And Umi walked away, leaving Maki to her own devices. She didn’t even know why she was still waiting for Nico - there was no point. It was obvious that it wasn’t in Nico’s best interest to help her anymore. And yet, she couldn’t forget the way Nico had taken her hand and guided her to the sink, holding her hand so gently and washing the blood away.

 It was clear to her, at least, that Nico was someone who tasked herself with looking after people like Maki. How she’d come to be the president of a magical club as a human was still a mystery, but it seemed like a good fit even though Maki didn’t really know her, and didn’t care to get to know her.

 Nico certainly didn’t care about her if she was going to make her sit outside for hours without telling her why.

 At last, the door opened a final time. Nico stepped into the hall with her bag on her arm, looking distant and unsure.

 “Come on,” Nico said to her. “Walk and talk. Nico doesn’t have all day.”

 Maki stood and stretched her legs. Her back hurt and she could feel another headache coming on. Reluctantly, she grabbed her bag and fell into step with Nico.

 “That was a conversation Nico never expected to have.”

 “About what? And what’s with the third person?”

 “Don’t mind that,” Nico said, not looking at Maki as they headed for the front doors. “We talked about kicking you out. Memory wipe and everything, the works.”

 Maki frowned. “I thought you were supposed to be a support group.”

 “And we are. But you don’t really understand how everything works yet. People are cruel, and I want to protect my friends. It’s not very common for magical people to meet each other, and having you around could cause Nico some real grief.”

 “So it’s bad to have me around because I used to be human, but you’re fine being the president? I don’t understand.” Maki stuck her hands in her pockets and looked down at her feet as she walked.

 “It’s different. Nico grew up in the other world. It’s black and white - we’re not supposed to mingle. What if we agreed to help you and then you killed someone in your sleep or something? That would be a heavy weight on Nico’s shoulders.”

 Maki hadn’t thought of that. Her brain shoved an image to the forefront of her mind - herself, changed and huge with giant teeth and claws, stalking through the halls of her home and pushing open the door to her parents’ bedroom… she didn’t want to consider what might have come next.

 “I don’t want to be a monster or anything.” Maki said quietly. She subconsciously looked around as they walked, wary of anyone else still milling about.

 “Nobody you met today is a monster and neither are you,” Nico said firmly. “You’re just Maki.”

 Maki wasn’t entirely sure that she could agree. 

 “So what did you decide?”

 Nico pushed open the doors and Maki followed her out into the early evening. The schoolyard was just as deserted as the inside of the building.

 “We took a vote on whether or not to help you.”

 “And?”

 “You lost four to two.”

 Maki’s heart sank. She took in a shaky breath and stopped walking, Nico drifting away ahead of her. She could ask Nico if she knew anyone else that could help. She had mentioned a memory wipe though, so the information would likely be useless anyway. Maki had no reason to believe they were bluffing.

 “Who voted for me?” Maki couldn’t help but ask. If anything, she was surprised they hadn’t all voted against her.

 Nico stopped and turned around, looking into Maki’s eyes. Once again, Maki forgot that she wasn’t supposed to be doing that, and didn’t even attempt to look in the other direction. Lost in the deep.

 “Umi did. And Nico.”

 Nico, who from what Maki understood was likely to lose the most from keeping her around, had voted to let her come back?

 “You’re a very lucky girl. Nico is the club president, and she can veto any vote. So really, you won two to nothing.”

 To say Maki was stunned was an understatement. 

 “You better come back tomorrow after all the trouble Nico went through to convince everyone, alright? Umi and Nico have a lot to explain.”

 Maki just nodded, eyes still locked with Nico’s until the other girl turned around and headed for the stairs. Relief flooded her from head to toe, cool and comforting. There was still a way out - a way to rewind to how things used to be only days ago.

 And now Maki was even more curious - _why_ exactly was this such a huge risk for Nico? She understood Nico being worried about a lapse in control, but there was so much more hidden in Nico’s words that she wanted to know about. She was leaving with more questions than she’d come with.

 Why Nico had voted for her to stay, she wasn’t entirely sure. What she did know was that she was one step closer to finding her way back.


	5. The Liar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hey all, sorry for the delay in updates. i typically write at work and work has picked up for the summer, so less time for that. extra time at home has been spent preparing for anime expo. speaking of, if you spot me there come say hi!
> 
> my cosplay schedule: http://i.imgur.com/x1KWjaz.jpg
> 
> my itabag (a very, very easy identifier when i'm out of cosplay): http://i.imgur.com/Shf0g5t.jpg
> 
> if you're going as maki, come hang out with me so we can fight about nothing periodically.
> 
> paradiso should be updating in the next few days too if all goes well.

Maki woke up feeling a little queasy, with aching limbs and tired eyes. She didn’t feel like moving, but her alarm was going crazy and she needed to get ready for class. She was hardly a morning person to begin with, but the dull pain in her back made waking up even harder. She just wanted to sink into her silky soft sheets and pass out for a few more hours. 

 She wasn’t quite sure why she felt so worn out to begin with; it wasn’t like she ran a marathon yesterday or anything. But maybe…

 Maki shot up suddenly, slamming a hand down on her alarm. Her eyes widened and she could practically feel her heart rate spike as she whipped her head towards the door, which she’d carefully barricaded again the night before. Her desk and dresser were shoved aside, leaving a clear pathway to the door.

 Now she _really_ didn’t want to get up. 

 Head falling into her hands, Maki took a deep breath and momentarily considered tossing herself out the window. Her thoughts jumped to the cow skeleton, but she realized she was actually hungry this time. She probably didn’t go _that_ far again.

 A gross taste in her mouth suddenly hit her, much worse than the usual morning breath. Earthy, mixed with something like how the cow remains had smelled. Maki took a good few minutes to calm down and try to think about what she might have got up to last night. After running the possibilities through her head, her feet finally touched the floor and she shuffled over to her window to peer out into the yard. 

 No new holes, just a patchy looking lawn and a freshly tiled pool. What could she have got up to in her sleep? Was it even in her sleep? Did it count as sleep walking? Sleep eating?

 Maki shook her head and got to work tidying her room, pushing her desk and dresser back to where they belonged so as to not raise suspicion in the housekeeper. Every little thing counted.

 When she was done, she leaned back as far as she could until she heard a comfortable crack. She really did feel like she’d just gone out for a run somewhere, after years of not doing much more than sitting at a piano bench. Sure she was _sort of_ fit, but she didn’t make a habit of tiring herself out.

 Reluctantly, she opened the door and peered around the corner. Nothing was out of place, so she made her way downstairs as carefully as possible. Her eyes darted all over the place as she headed for the kitchen, looking for anything that could indicate a wild animal running about the house in the night.

 When she finally made it to the kitchen, her mother greeted her happily and offered her breakfast. Her mother seemingly having no concerns put her at ease, and so she sat down to eat, deciding that she should worry less and just get ready for school as if everything were normal. 

 Later, as she put her uniform on, her eyes subconsciously traveled to her arm. Part of her expected that she’d find the bite mark again, and then she would know that everything really was a dream and she wasn’t about to go back to the mysterious club room and talk to people she didn’t like and didn’t want to know. However, her skin was smooth and unblemished.

 Maki reached for her school bag and headed for the front door, waving goodbye to her mother on the way.

 As she stepped beyond the gated Nishikino property and out onto the sidewalk, what she’d done last night became immediately apparent

 All down the road on either side were upturned garbage bins, surrounded by shredded plastic bags and all of their former contents. Half-eaten food, crushed plastic bottles and ripped up takeout containers littered the ground, garnished with the occasional puddle of vomit that looked like something a cat might have thrown up. Or a dog, Maki supposed.

 She was tempted to turn around and go back inside, and maybe pretend to be terminally ill so she would never have to show her face outside again. The beautiful, intelligent and talented Maki Nishikino, reduced to nothing more than a wild animal digging through literal garbage in the middle of the night. Disgusting.

 Instead of following through with that though, Maki took a deep breath in and pushed forward, stepping almost cautiously down the sidewalk, as if she was fearing making another equally horrifying discovery about what her canine counterpart got up to. She felt particularly bad as she passed the odd person out in front of their home, bending over to pick up the trash she’d strewn about for no reason.

 When she made it to the train station, she wanted to feel proud of herself for not rushing off to a washroom to throw up again. But she was still mentally frozen, stuck to the idea that _she_ had done that; _she_ had gone outside and stuck her face directly into bins full of garbage and rotting food. 

 The ride to school only served to make her feel more ill, and sitting through class was absolutely no better.

 

\---

 

Towards the end of class, Maki had started feeling a little less terrible about what she’d witnessed that morning. She was more nervous about going back to the club room. She felt trapped between a rock and a hard place, still hardly accepting that she was going to have to converse with the people she’d met yesterday again in order to help herself. 

 Of course, that lingering doubt she felt about whether or not they would be helpful at all only made her feel worse, because Nico had apparently had to talk everyone else into letting Maki come back to begin with. Barely more than a total stranger, and the third-year was doing her best at making Maki feel bad just for being her usual self.

 Maki still figured she would be better off without the distraction of having other people to talk to besides her parents, especially with her current condition. Hopefully, she would only have to endure it for a short while longer.

 She leaned down to grab her bag as the bell rang and accidentally caught Rin’s eye. The girl waved at her excitedly from across the room with both arms. Hanayo stayed quiet next to her, but gave a small wave of her own. Maki did her best to look away, heading directly for the door at a blistering pace. She would see them shortly, anyway; no point getting trapped in a potentially embarrassing conversation in the classroom.

 After visiting her locker to stash her textbooks, Maki was nearly full on tackled in the emptying hallway by none other than Honoka, much less asleep than she’d been when they were first introduced.

 “It’s Maki-chan, hey!”

 Maki recoiled and shoved Honoka off of her as hard as she could, acutely aware of the heat creeping into her face.

 “Don’t call me that! And don’t ever do that again!”

 Honoka just beamed at her and clapped her hands. “I’m so glad you decided to join the club! Even though almost everyone else wanted to kick you out. It’s not fair to discriminate, you know?”

 Maki blinked. “I… guess? Hey wait, I didn’t join your dumb club or anything! I’m just getting temporary help.”

 “Oh, well that’s basically the same thing, isn’t it?” Honoka paused to think for a moment. “I’m just glad we found you. We’re here to help and make you smile, because everyone deserves to be happy. Even if you’re like, a cryptid from some trench at the bottom of the ocean or something.”

 Maki breathed in through her nose, struggling to fend off her rapidly growing frustration.

“Whatever you say. I’ll be happy when I can’t smell someone’s perfume from fifty metres away anymore. Now if you’ll excuse me -”

 “That’s a pretty negative way to look at it, Maki-chan. Don’t you think it’s cool you can smell all the bakeries in Akiba from like, one street corner?” Honoka’s hands moved to her cheeks, framing her smile. “And if you smell something _really_ good you can just track it down in no time at all! I wish I could do that…”

 “Uhh…” If Maki were to be honest with herself, which she knew she had trouble being to begin with, then maybe she might admit that the concept was kind of cool. But no, she wasn’t going to think like that. Being able to smell a hundred different cakes at once wasn’t a good enough positive compared to the growing list of negatives she could imagine.

 “You’re like, a super human now! You can read your music sheets from like a million metres away.”

 “Well I suppose you’re right but I would never - wait, how do you know I play?” Maki wondered if Honoka was telepathic as well. For some reason, that idea seemed much worse than Nozomi picking through her brain.

 Honoka brought her hands behind her back and kicked lightly at the floor. “Oh, I sit outside the music room and listen to you play sometimes. You’re really good! You should play something for Nico-chan sometime, she’s all about music.”

 Maki visibly flinched and turned full-blown red in the face. “Don’t listen! You can’t do that!”

 Honoka’s smile faltered. “Huh? Why not? You’re so talented!”

 Maki coughed awkwardly and attempted to straighten herself out. “I-I know. But it’s rude to listen in when you’re not welcome.”

 “Nico-chan was right; you really are grouchy. Keeping something that amazing to yourself is a little selfish, don’t you think?”

 Maki rolled her eyes at the mention of Nico and glanced at the time on her phone. “No, it’s not. And we’re late for today’s meeting, by the way.”

 Honoka shook her head. “Oh, I’m not going. Nico-chan said it’s a private meeting today, so I get to leave early.”

 A private meeting with Nico?

 “I’d rather die…” Maki muttered.

 “What’s that?”

 “Nothing. I have to go.” 

 Maki turned to walk away, half tempted to break into a run. When she almost reached the end of the hallway, Honoka called back out to her.

 “The clubroom is the other way!”

 Maki stopped and clenched her fists, stiffly turning around and avoiding eye contact with Honoka as she retraced her steps and stalked past her in the opposite direction.

 “Nico-chan will have you smiling in no time, I know it!” Honoka shouted as Maki tried her hardest to frown while she headed for the room. Maki had no reason to smile - not right now - and especially not at Nico. Honoka had no idea what she was talking about.

 Maki found her way to the club room eventually, silently dreading what a one-on-one meeting with her short senior might entail. She didn’t quite understand why it sounded so unappealing. Nico had agreed to help her after all, right? She was just annoying and had a holier-than-thou attitude, like she knew everything there was to know about the supernatural. 

 She kind of _did_ , and it wasn’t like Maki knew what Nico was talking about half the time. Nevertheless, she felt Umi would be a much better candidate if she had to choose anyone specific to meet with. At least Umi kind of got it, being a werewolf and all. 

 To Maki’s relief, once she had performed the very specific knock, she was greeted at the door by the serious and level-headed second-year she was just thinking of.

 Umi stepped aside to reveal Nico sitting at the head of the table.

 Her stomach dropped.

 “Welcome back.” Umi said to her as she shut the door.

 Maki took in the scent of dusty books as she mentally dragged herself to the table, taking a seat on Nico’s right. Umi sat down across from her and folded her hands politely on the table, while Nico stretched and kicked her chair back, bringing her feet up to rest on the surface.

 Maki’s wandering hands fidgeted with the decorative tablecloth, and she eyed the red pentagram warily. “You have... interesting decor.”

 Maki half regretted saying anything that sounded even vaguely like small talk. She just wanted to get down to business, but she couldn’t help but make a comment.

 “Kotori made it for me when she joined the club. She makes all kinds of things, almost as good as Nico.” Nico said, gesturing to herself.

 Maki caught a glimpse of Umi’s eyes rolling. At least someone else in the room was equally unimpressed with the baseless brag. 

 “I didn’t know this was going to be a private meeting.” Maki voiced her thoughts.

 Nico shrugged and swung her feet back down, front legs of her chair hitting the floor with a loud thump. “We don’t need everyone here to talk. Just the president.”

 “And the vice president.” Umi added, implying her title. Maki wasn’t really sure how that might have come to be, and she really didn’t care.

 “So you’re going to help me?” Maki asked, in an attempt to cut to the chase.

 Nico nodded at her. “But first, we gotta go over the rules. This is like, life or death, okay? So you better listen to Nico.” The girl pointed at Maki. 

 “I’m not going to die, am I?” Maki questioned sarcastically, though she was half serious. She still didn’t really know the risks and Nico had only implied what might result from her sticking around and helping the day before.

 “Don’t be stupid, I’m talking about me.” Nico huffed.

 “Yeah, about that… you should probably elaborate?” Maki offered, assuming Nico was perhaps being a little dramatic. She seemed the type to exaggerate. 

 “Oh, are you worried about Nico?” Nico leaned forward, eyebrows raised.

 Maki could hardly stop herself from grimacing. “Of course not. Everything is just really vague right now.”

 Nico grumbled to herself and Umi laughed quietly beside her. Such an odd pair they were.

 “Alright.” Nico crossed her arms in her seat and looked dead into Maki’s eyes. Maki really wished she would stop doing that. “Rule number one, don’t talk about the club. Rule number two, don’t tell anyone supernaturally inclined about me. Rule number three, don’t tell anyone supernaturally inclined about _you_.”

 “I can’t talk about you because you’re human?”

 Nico nodded.

 “I could always just tell everyone you’re a dwarf. Do those exist?”

 Nico cringed, and Umi, face devoid of expression save for the smallest hint of a smile, followed up swiftly.

 “I think you’ve just offended an entire race.”

 Maki couldn’t help but smile back at that one. 

 “Ha!” Nico shouted, pointing and ignoring the fact that she’d just been the butt of a short joke. “You smiled! I made you smile.”

 Maki immediately replaced said smile with a deep frown. “No, that was Umi - I mean, I’m not smiling. Not at you or at anyone. Back to the human thing please.”

 Nico grumbled again - something about her good-for-nothing juniors - but continued on. 

 “So you know all those stories and fairytales and whatever about mobs hunting down spirits and demons and everything else under that umbrella? Werewolf hunters in the west, burning witches in Europe, sailors fishing up mermaids that drag people into the sea, all that fun stuff. Most of the negative junk our magical ancestors did was totally like, self-defense or misunderstandings, but you know some people don’t see it that way.”

 Maki nodded, doing her best to follow along and attempting to actually believe what Nico was saying.

 “Well,” Nico went on, “that kind of stigma never really goes away. It wasn’t so long ago that we had some bad apples sending their familiars off to possess people in the countryside, and all you really hear about are the witches that mess with people because they’re bored. Turning people into pigs, kidnapping children, awful stuff like that.”

 “...pigs?” Maki whispered.

 “Pigs.” Umi nodded at her. “Very unkind.”

 “That was a mess and a half… anyway, you get stuff like that and then you get the Hollywood stereotypes and suddenly every werewolf and their grandma is the bad guy. Vampires, warlocks, tengu, oni, even the okami who are totally the good guys half the time… of course there are some bad ones here and there, but there are bad humans too.”

 “It’s part of fearing what you don’t understand. Or rather, what you think you understand.” Umi added.

 “Right. Like, its usually a good thing to ward off demons and bad spirits with… uh, whatever it is that does that, but if you just turned into a big wolf person in front of some bystander, what do you think would happen?”

 Maki thought for a moment. “I suppose… they’d call the police? Someone like that.”

 “Sure, sure,” Nico continued, “and after that, do you think they’d just let you go?”

 “No…”

 “Right. You either end up with dogs versus armed cops, or you submit and end up locked away while everyone prods at you forever trying to figure out how you tick. Nobody is going to let you go and people aren’t gonna like having you around. I mean, it’s not always a risk, but…”

 “No, no,” Maki interjected. “I get it. Copy and paste similar outcomes for everyone else you mentioned…”

 “Precisely.” Umi said, tone serious and very much unlike the one she used to joke about Nico. “So when you have a human that knows their fair share of secrets about the magical community, you have a breach in security. My family wouldn’t be very happy to know that Nico is a human, because that means a human knows the whereabouts of an entire pureblood werewolf lineage. All it would take to wipe us out is one phone call and some proof, which Nico has plenty of.”

 “So it’s fear? Fear on both ends?” Maki concluded, though the information was still settling in the back of her mind.

 “Full circle.” Nico leaned her elbow on the table. “I know too much, and some people think that’s dangerous, which is fair I guess. But Nico is too cute to die early.”

 Maki blinked as she watched Nico’s hands come up above her head in an odd pose, having exactly zero idea what she was doing. The moment passed and Maki just shook her head and thought about asking Nico about _why_ exactly she knew so much, considering she wasn’t supposed to know anything at all.

 “You’ll need to practice walking on eggshells.” Umi said, chair shifting as she pushed it back and leaned under the table. 

 She surfaced with a notepad in hand. “We should move on, though. I have archery practice in half an hour.”

 Maki slumped a little in her chair. She would have to ask Nico later. Or continue trying to ignore her - one of the two.

 “Right,” Nico clapped her hands together. “We need to take some notes. Tell Nico all the terrible things you’ve done in the night.”

 Maki instantly blanched and her half-lidded eyes shot open. “H-how did you know?!”

 Nico’s expression faltered and she traded looks with Umi. “Nico was just making a joke. Did something happen?”

 Still pale, Maki looked down at her trembling hands. “I...I….garbage…”

 Nico raised an eyebrow. “Huh?”

 “I went through the garbage cans last night. All down my street.” Maki spoke quickly, looking away from her companions as soon as she got it out.

 Maki cringed and her eye twitched as she heard Nico’s quiet snickering.

 “It’s not funny!”

 “You’re right, it’s totally normal! For a five-year-old. Umi, write this down.”

 The vice president-turned-scribe complied with the neatest handwriting Maki had ever seen.

 “What else?” Nico urged Maki on. “Do you know what makes you change?”

 Maki still felt embarrassed talking about it, but less so than before. If it was normal for a kid to do it, then Umi had probably gone through something similar when she was younger. That thought was comforting.

 “Just what you’ve seen and what I’ve told you about. The c-cow and the holes, and that time I punched the door.”

 “And you can’t control when you change at all?”

 Maki shook her head. “I don’t even know what I look like when I do it. I wake up and everything is fine. At least, in terms of appearance.”

 Nico tapped a finger on the table. “So we’ve got an uncontrollable newborn puppy, not being able to differentiate food from garbage, lack of basic morals when it comes to other wildlife, or whatever a cow counts as… no present memories of being transformed, anger management issues… Umi, are you getting all this?”

 The girl nodded as she continued to write furiously, visibly lost in her own thoughts at the same time.

 Maki frowned at the both of them, which she was getting tired of doing. But they just made it so easy.

 “Yeah, I know I’m dangerous, you don’t have to rub it in. Why are we writing this down though?”

 Nico gave her a confused look. “Isn’t the whole reason you’re here is because you want help with this little problem of yours? Umi can give you all the help you need; she’ll turn you into a good dog in no time. Right, Umi?”

 Umi just nodded again, and had moved on to taking her own notes.

 “Making me a good dog? Does that make it easier to cure me or something?”

 Umi’s pencil snapped in half.

 “Cure you?!” Nico shouted. “You want to be _cured?_ ”

 Maki’s eyes darted between Nico and Umi again. “Of course. What did you think I meant when I asked you to help me?”

 Nico looked down at her lap and sighed, and Umi didn’t look much better. Only sympathetic.

 Maki didn’t understand. “This whole werewolf thing is ruining my life. I can’t just… I can’t just be one forever. I have a reputation. I’m supposed to become a doctor, and I have to keep up piano for recitals.” Maki pressed a hand to her chest. “Wouldn’t you want the same thing if you were in my place? If my parents found out…”

 Umi picked up the remains of her pencil from the floor and licked her lips. “I don’t know how to tell you this, but you can’t-”

 “Alright.” Nico spoke suddenly, looking up at Maki. “Nico will help you.”

 Maki watch as Umi glared pointedly at Nico, though she wasn’t sure why. Nico looked determined nonetheless.

 The whole thing made Maki feel a little uncomfortable. “I did some of my own research, kind of. The first thing listed under possible cures is always -”

 “Wolfsbane.” Umi finished for her. “We’ve built our immunity up over thousands of generations. Doesn’t work anymore. Nothing more than a mild irritant.”

 “Anything you’ve read online isn’t going to be true. You’re gonna need someone who can change you back, probably.” Nico tapped her chin in thought.

 “Nozomi?” Maki suggested. A witch seemed like the kind of person who could do that sort of thing.

 “Maybe if you want to be a frog for the rest of your life. I guess that kinda counts though…” Nico trailed off.

 “Very funny. I clearly don’t know what I’m talking about, so maybe you should clue me in?” Maki tried her best to sound put off, but it didn’t seem to have any effect on Nico. 

 “You’re such a diva.” Nico said flatly. “The list is small… cross out witches since anything they can do is only temporary… a djinn maybe? Wish-granting territory is a bit sparse though. I don’t know where we’d find one.”

 Umi, stiff and unmoving, was still noticeably bothered by something, but she contributed to the line of thought anyway. “Even if we knew one, they would have no reason to help.”

 “Right, nothing worthwhile to give them in return. Hmm, mermaids don’t grant wishes even though some people still insist they do. I don’t like mermaids anyway.”

 Umi sighed. “For the last time, I’m sure your brother just dropped his ice cream at the beach all on his own.”

 “It was totally a mermaid. Greedy fish people, stealing ice cream from children...” Nico frowned at a memory Maki couldn’t picture.

 Umi moved the conversation on without her. “Perhaps a fairy of some kind could do it, but they’re few and far between. Impossible to find these days.”

 “Or, you could make a deal with a devil.” Nico offered. 

 “Yes, I’m sure they’d be happy to turn you inside out at such a stupid request.” Umi swept a lock of air behind her ear. “Even if you did find one, you’d be dead before you could ask them.”

 “The cost would be totally nuts anyway, they just want to torment you for fun.” Nico added. “Honestly there isn’t much else that comes to mind, but Nico hasn’t exactly gone looking.”

 Maki sighed as the situation neared hopelessness, conversation well beyond her at that point. There had to be something. Just because Nico didn’t know didn’t mean there wasn’t anything she could do.

 “Regardless,” Umi interrupted Maki’s thought, “you should be working with me anyway. We need to find the root of your transformations and get you under control while Nico does whatever she thinks she can do.”

 “Wow, so supportive.” Nico grumbled.

 Umi glanced briefly at her phone. “I have to go now, but we need to arrange some training for you. Meet me after school tomorrow. You’re free, right?”

 The idea of being trained sounded entirely unappealing, but Maki nodded anyway. If she was going to have to wait around, then she may as well try to gain as much control of her life as she could until she could be fixed.

 “Nico will think on it then.” Nico stood and clapped her hands. “Meeting adjourned!”

 Umi politely shuffled out of the room in the direction of the archery range while Maki trailed out the door slowly behind Nico. Despite not really wanting to walk with her, Maki couldn’t think of a decent excuse to stay behind off the top of her head. She considered the music room, but all she could see was Honoka lurking on the other side of the door, watching her.

 Walking with Nico it was.

 Nico seemed like she was still drifting between thoughts as they walked through the hall towards the doors, and it made Maki feel like she was being ignored. Normally she would prefer it to be that way, but Nico was such a strange person and there were so many questions that demanded answers. Maki didn’t like Nico - not one bit - but she was curious.

 “Yesterday you mentioned that you grew up in the other world. What did you mean? Is that how you came to know about all this stuff?”

 Nico snapped out of her thoughts and turned to Maki for a moment.

 “I guess that’s what I meant, yeah. To make a long story short, I met Nozomi when we were really little and she was always doing stuff she wasn’t supposed to.”

 “Like what?”

 Nico sighed. “Why do you want to know anyway? You don’t even like me.”

 Maki blushed and bit her lip. “Wouldn’t you ask questions if you were me?”

 “From what I can tell it sucks to be you, but you’re not wrong.”

 “Haha, very funny. Excuse me for asking.”

 Nico remained silent as they reached the end of the hall, and she pushed open the door in front of Maki. The air felt weirdly tense, as if her question was something Maki wasn’t supposed to have asked. She was totally fine with Nico not wanting to talk to her though. Preferred it, actually. Definitely.

 They walked together past the cherry blossom trees and Maki pulled out her phone to call for a ride. Nico just stared ahead the whole time, as if she were looking at something. Or maybe she was back in deep thought again.

 When they reached the steps, Maki sat down at the top to await her driver, fully expecting Nico to continue past her. Instead, she sat down next to her and leaned her head on the railing, hugging her bag to herself.

 “Nozomi was being picked on by some kids in a park.” Nico said suddenly. 

 Maki decided to just listen; she’d done enough talking for the day anyway.

 “She was all crouched on the ground setting dandelions on fire with her little kid magic because she thought it was a fun thing to do. Some kids noticed and started calling her names, and pushed her around a bit. I was just a kid too of course, but I had to do something. I was taking care of my younger siblings at the time, so maybe it was just natural.”

 I told them to stop and… well, you know I’m not exactly a big person. It took me a while but I finally got them to go away and leave her alone.”

 Maki rubbed at the hem of her skirt absentmindedly. “Did you talk them down?”

 Nico laughed. “No way, they beat me up. But they left, so I still totally won. Anyway, Nozomi patched me up with her magic and after that I just kind of fell in with her. We grew up together and everything just felt normal, even though my life turned into the opposite.”

 “You seem to get beat up a lot.”

 “Nico is selfless. If you save a werewolf they’ve got your back forever, so stuff like that is worth it.”

 Maki blinked in the sunlight, the glow slowly setting on the horizon beyond the city. “I don’t have your back if that’s what you’re implying.”

 Nico shook her head. “No, I mean Umi. She used to be a scared little thing, you know? Best friends with Honoka and Kotori but I have some history with her as well. Nobody nobler than a pureblood like her. Besides, she does all the club paperwork for me.”

 “I feel like she does it because you don’t.”

 “You can read Nico so easy. We’ll be best friends in no time.”

 Maki groaned. “No thanks.”

 Another moment of silence settled between them as the wind picked up, stray pink petals tumbling down the stairs and clumping together.

 Maki felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to tell Nico to keep her hands to herself, but the girl’s expression stopped her. Was it concern? Maki couldn’t quite tell.

 “Try not to get up and about tonight, alright? You’re lucky you weren’t hit by a car or something.”

 Maki hadn’t really thought of that, but she supposed it could happen. “I’ll try not to end up in the hospital.”

 “Oh, it wouldn’t be you. Probably everyone in the car though. It’s a legal nightmare and a half and Nico doesn’t want to fill out all the forms for you, so don’t do it. Alright?”

 “Um, okay?” Maki replied, unsure. 

 Nico stood up suddenly, slinging her bag over her shoulder. “Maybe tomorrow we’ll get to see what you look like. See ya, Maki-chan.”

 Maki did little more than wave at Nico’s back as she walked down the stairs to who knows where. She really didn’t want to know what she looked like after transforming, but it was probably inevitable - especially if she was going to learn how to stop going through garbage at night. Getting a sound night of sleep without the added stress would be nice.

 Maki blinked, neutral expression slowly turning into a frown as she realized what Nico had called her.

  _What a brat_. 

 She kind of felt like she was lying to herself though. Nico was helping her after all, and had barely done anything but. 

 Maki winced as she felt another headache coming on, clutching at her head as her ride pulled up. 

 At least tomorrow she only had to deal with Umi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> patreon! just in case.
> 
> https://www.patreon.com/nidofeathers


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